EEET2148/2260 – Electronic Materials — Tutorial 01

Tutorial 01- Dielectric Materials

Prof. Yongxiang Li
School of Engineering, RMIT University
E-mail : yongxiang.li@rmit.edu.au

Monday, 7 Sept 2020, 16:30-17:30

Collaborator- Online

1
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 2

Dielectrics 239

Questions:

1. What are the three most important dielectric properties? Understand

the analogues of the magnetic and dielectric properties.
2. Discuss the similarity and difference of crystal structure and charac-
teristics between ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials.
3. Discuss the mechanism behind the formation of hysteresis loop in
ferroelectric materials and the related applications.
4. To construct a multilayer plate capacitor having a capacitance of
0.05 µF, fused silica sheets of 1 cm × 1 cm × 0.001 cm are used.
Calculate how many layers of (a) the silica sheets and (b) conductors
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 3

1. What are the three most important dielectric proper3es? Understand the
analogues of the magne3c and dielectric proper3es.
Answer:
Ø The most important proper3es for dielectrics are:
1). Rela3ve permi@vity, εr ,
2). Tangent of loss angle, tanδ, and
3). Dielectric strength, Eb.
4). Resis3vity

Ø Dielectric proper3es:
electrical dipoles – polariza3on; electric domains;
P-E curve (ferroelectric, Ps, Pr, Ec); Curie temperature;
Ø Magne3c proper3es:
magne3c dipoles – magne3za3on; magne3c domains;
B-H curve (ferromagne3c, Ms, Mr, Hc); Curie temperature
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 4

2. Discuss the similarity and difference of crystal structure and characteristics

between ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials.
Ø All piezoelectric materials are non-centrosymmetric, meaning that
mechanical stress can induce dielectric dipole moments. Addi8onally,
because all piezoelectrics are dielectrics, they are therefore electrical
insulators.
Ø In some piezoelectrics, pyroelectric materials, dipoles can be created when
they are heated or cooled, even in the absence of an external field.
Addi8onally some pyroelectrics exhibit spontaneous electric polariza8on
that can be switched by an electric field or stress. Accordingly, all
ferroelectric materials are pyroelectric and can be considered piezoelectric
materials.
Ø Neuman’s principle: “the symmetry elements of any physical property of a
crystal must include all the symmetry elements of the point group of the
crystal”.
 Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 5

11

Ferroelectric

21
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 6

3. Discuss the mechanism behind the forma3on of hysteresis loop in

ferroelectric materials and the related applica3ons.

Ø Ferroelectric materials exhibit major hysteresis loops during field-induced

polariza8on switching or domain switching.

Ø Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM, F-RAM or FRAM)

Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 7

4. To construct a mul/layer plate capacitor having a capacitance of 0.05 µF, fused silica
sheets of 1 cm × 1 cm × 0.001 cm are used. Calculate how many layers of
(a) the silica sheets and (b) conductors are needed.
The permiDvity in vacuum is 8.854 × 10-12 F/m and the rela/ve permiDvity of fused
silica is 4.5.
Solution:
a) Calculate the capacitance of ONE layer:
!!!" $.$&' × )*!"# × '.& × *.*) × *.*)
𝐶1 = = = 8.854×45×10+), (F)
# *.**) × *.*)

b) Calculate dielectric layer numbers:

*.*& × )*!$
n= = 125.5 ≈ 126 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 for silica
$.$&' × '&×)*!"#

c) Calculate conductor layer numbers:

n +1 = 127 layers for conductors.
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 8

5. A force is applied to a 0.5 cm × 0.5 cm wafer of BaTiO3 that is 1 mm thick.

The piezoelectric voltage across the thickness of the wafer was measured to
be 400 V. Calculate (a) the electrical field created by the force, (b) the strain
produced by the force, and (c) the value of the force.
The Young’s modulus and piezoelectric constant for BaTiO3 are 69 GPa (GPa =
109 Pa) and 1 × 10-10 m/V, respec3vely. 5 mm

5mm
a) Calculate the electrical field created by the force:
- '** (-)
E= = = 400,000 (𝑉/𝑚) 400 V 1 mm
# ) (00)

(b) The strain produced by the force

xij = d kij E k
& '
𝑥!" = 𝜀 = 1× 10#$% × 400,000 ( )(
' &
= 4×10#(
tants Tutorial:
dependingChapter 7: Dielectrics
on the material and related to the 9

(Young’s modulus):
(c) The value of the force 5 mm

E = σ/ε. (7.17) 5mm

𝜎=𝐸9 𝜀
n are within
= 4elastic deformation
× 10+& × 69 Gpa range, we can 400 V 1 mm
and (7.15): = 276 ×10+&
= 2760000 𝑁/𝑚2 (1 Gpa = 109 N/m2 )
E = 1/(g⋅d). (7.18)
F=𝜎 (𝐴
#) × 10#) *
= 2760000 × 5 × 5 × 10
terials were found to be piezoelectric, relatively 𝑚2
&+
= 69 (N)
een optimised for practical application. Most
lectric materials include quartz, barium titanate
(PbTiO3), lead zirconate (PbZrO3), CdS and ZnO.

rials
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 10

6. BaTiO3 has a perovskite structure. Below its Curie temperature, the ions
shieed from its original cubic posi3ons, resul3ng in a tetragonal structure
with a = b = 0.399 nm and c = 0.403 nm. Calculate:
(a) the total dipole moments for a unit cell, and
(b) the polarisa3on as the density of dipole moments.

Solution:

In cubic structure: The oxygen ions

are at face centers, Ba+2 ions are
at cube corners and Ti+4 is at
cube center in cubic BaTi03.
In tetragonal BaTi03 ,the Ti+4 is off-
center and the unit cell has a net
polariza8on.
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 11

(a) the total dipole moments for a unit cell

• The separa=ons are the distances that the Ti4+ and O2- ions are displaced from the
normal laBce points.
• The charge on each ion is the product of q and the number of excess or missing
electrons (en). Thus, the dipole moments are:
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 12

Each oxygen ion is shared with another unit cell, so the total dipole moment
in the unit cell is:

b) The polariza3on per cubic cen3meter is:

Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 13

7. Suppose that the average displacement of the electrons rela3ve to the

nucleus in a Cu atom is 1×10-8 Å. when an electric field is imposed on a Cu
plate. Calculate the polariza3on. Cu has an atomic number of 29, a fcc
structure and a0 = 3.6151 Å.
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 14

Solution:
The atomic number of copper is 29, so there are 29 electrons in each copper atom.
The laDce parameter of copper is 0.36151 nm. Thus

!"#$% '('&")#*
=( ) × (>? ) GHGIJKLMN
Z= &'(( !"#$
@.BCDC × CE+,- F #
= 2.46 ×10@E ( F#
)

𝑝 = 𝑍𝑞𝑑
-
= (2.46 × 10)% 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛/𝑚3) × 1.6 × 10#$, × 10#$/ 𝑚
.
= 3.94 × 10#0 𝐶 ( 𝑚#+
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 15

8. The ionic polarization observed in a NaCl crystal is 4.3 × 10-8 C/cm2 .

Calculate the displacement between Na+ and Cl- ions. There are four Na+ in a
unit NaCl cell, which has a fcc structure and a0 = 0.55 nm.
 for a linear dielectric
Tutorial: Chapter 7: Dielectrics 16
a = a e + a ion

Total polarizability of die-

Space charge

lectric constant
O 𝛍 P = Nµ
𝑃= = = 4.3 × 10RC> 𝐶/𝑚2
PI E.DD × CE+. #
F #Orientation

Polarizability
Ionic
P
Electronic e r -1 =
𝛍 = (4.3 × 10RC> 𝐶/𝑚2) × ( 0.55 × 10R? 3 𝑚3 ) e 0 E0

Absorption of loss
= 715.4 × 10R=> C1m

factor
Power Audio Radio Infra-red Visible
The dipole moment in one lattice, p, is just
Electrical frequency Optical frequency
𝛍 = q ∆d = (4 × 1.602 × 10 #$, 𝐶) ∆d (C/m)
Fig. 7.4 Variation of the total polarisation and dielectric absorption as a function of
frequency (after E.J. Murphy and S.D. Morgan, Bell System Tech. Il., 16, 1937, p493).

0$(.2 × $%$%& -4&

∆d = The relaxation frequencies of the four polarisation processes,
4 × 1.602 × $% $'( -
described above, are different, so they can be separated experimentally.
Fig. 7.4 displays the plots of total polarisation and absorption versus the
= 111.64 × 10#+) (m) showing that the different polarisation mechanisms have
frequency,

1.12 ×10#$$ (Å)

different frequency behaviours. Each contribution to the polarisation
= decays as its characteristic resonant frequency is exceeded.
Q & A:
Email: yongxiang.li@rmit.edu.au

Consultation Time:
Wednesday afternoon 4:00-5:00 PM
Office: B12-08-13
Tutorial: Design of a Multi-layer Capacitor 18

Ø A mul&-layer capacitor is to be designed using a BaTiO3- based formula&on containing

SrTiO3. The dielectric constant of the material is 3000.
Ø Calculate the capacitance of a mul&-layer capacitor consis&ng of 100 layers connected in
parallel using Ni electrodes. The sides of the capacitor are 10 ´ 5 mm and the thickness of
each layer is 10 µm.

Ø SOLUTION: The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is given by:

𝜺𝟎𝜺𝑨
𝑪=
𝒅
Tutorial: Design of a Multi-layer Capacitor (cont.) 19

1. The permiEvity of free space is ε0, 8.85 ´ 10-12 F/m. The rela&ve permiEvity of BaTiO3
dielectric (εr) is 3000.
Capacitance per layer will be:

2. Note the conversion to SI units.

3. We have 100 layers connected in parallel. Capacitances add up in this arrangement.

All layers have same geometric dimensions in this case.
Tutorial: R, C and t 20

As shown in Figure below, two global interconnects are fabricated to be 0.25 µm in

both thickness and width. They are made of a metal having a resistivity of 2 µΩ·cm.
They are parallel to each other over a length of 5 mm and their nearest sides are
separated by 0.5 µm filled with SiO2 (relative dielectric constant, k = 4).
(a) What is the resistance of each of these two independent lines?
(b) What is their relative capacitance (ignore interactions with other lines)?
(c) What is the resulting RC time constant?
Tutorial: R, C and t 21

Solutions:

a) The resistance of each Al line:

)* (-×/0!"×/0!#)×(2×/0!$)
𝑅= +
= (0.-2×/0!") ×(0.-2×/0!")

= 1600 (Ohm)
(b) The capacitance

4%4+ 6.62×/0!&# ×7×(0.-2×/0!")×(2×/0!$)

𝐶= 5
= 0.2×/0!"

= 8.85×108/7 (𝐹𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑)

(c) t = RC, time constant

𝜏 = RC = 1600×8.85×108/7 = 1.416×108/0 𝑠
Tutorial- Relaxa3on – migra3on & orienta3on polariza3on 22

What is the principle involved in microwave hea3ng?

Microwave Ovens 23

Ø A microwave oven generates

electromagne&c radia&on at about
2.5 GHz. This energy is preTy good
at causing H2O molecules to oscillate
their orienta&on (orienta&onal
dielectric constant changes greatly).
Ø 5 GHz - 100 GHz would be ideal, but
then most of the energy would be
absorbed by the outermost layer of
the food, defea&ng the purpose.
Ø Ice has a low dielectric constant, so
not much energy is absorbed by it.
Once there is a bit of melted ice,
though, then you are really cooking.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm
Some useful relationships, constants, and units 24

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