Ferroelectric Materials:

A ferroelectric material is a non-linear

dielectric that exhibits a remnant
polarization in the absence of an external
electric field and its direction can be
switched by an applied electric field

Ferroelectric materials display a hysteresis

effect of polarization with an applied field.
The hysteresis loop is caused by the
existence of permanent electric dipoles
in the material.
 Allferroelectric materials are pyroelectric and
piezoelectric, but not vice versa
Ferroelectric materials have great application
potential in developing smart electromagnetic
materials, structures, and devices, including miniature
capacitors, electrically tunable capacitors, filters and
phase shifters in recent years. Their application in
the microwave frequencies are still under intensive
investigations.

Ferroelectrics found widespread industrial applications because of their

unique electromechanical and electrical properties, for example as
sensors, actuators, and capacitors.
Today, researchers assess the suitability of ferroelectrics for modern
communication technology like 5G, as active layers in photovoltaics, and a
number of other applications
The specific symmetry
of the unit cell
determines whether the
crystal exhibits
ferroelectric,
piezoelectric,
pyroelectric, or electro-
optic effects.

Classification of crystals
showing the classes with
piezoelectric, pyroelectric,
and
ferroelectric effects.
• The local alignment of dipoles can
exist over any length scale.
• Different regions may exist with
different polarisation
orientations:
– Call these “domains” in line
with magnetic materials.
– In contrast with magnetism,
domain walls are abrupt.
The paraelectric-to-ferroelectric transition in oxide
ferroelectrics is accompanied by lattice strains which cause
local deformations and internal mechanical stresses,
depending on the boundary constraints.

The formation of
regions with oriented
domains (ferroelectric
domain structure)
separated by
discontinuity regions
(domain walls) takes
place in order to
minimize the system’s
free energy, i.e., the
electrostatic and
internal mechanical
stress contributions.
Applied field
Suppose we now apply an electric field, horizontal in the figure. If it is of
sufficient strength, the small ions will be able to overcome the barrier and dipoles
will switch direction. The dipoles are polarised by the applied field. Domain walls
move.
Polarisation vs. E-field
Suppose we start with a material where there are many
domains which are aligned randomly. What is the initial
polarisation? If we apply a small electric field, such
that it is not able to switch domain alignments, then
the material will behave as a normal dielectric: PE
As E is increased, we start to flip domains and rapidly
increase P.
When all domains are switched, we reach saturation. P
What happens if the E-field is now removed?

The value at zero field is termed the remnant

polarisation.
The value of P extrapolated back from the saturation E
limit is the spontaneous polarisation.
Reversal of the field will eventually remove all
polarisation
The field required is the coercive field.
Further increasing the reverse field will completely
reverse the polarisation, and so a hysteresis loop is
formed…
Polarisation hysteresis
The essential feature of a ferroelectric is not that there is a spontaneous
polarisation, but that the spontaneous polarisation can be reversed by
the application of an electric field.

Curie temperature
Above a critical temperature the
spontaneous polarisation will be lost due
to one of two effects:
– A change of structure such that
there is a single minimum in the
energy mid-way between sites
– The rate that the small ions hop is
so high that on average there is
no net polarisation
Dielectric polarization Paraelectric polarization Ferroelectric polarization

Some materials, known as paraelectric materials, show a more

enhanced nonlinear polarization (see figure). The electric 
permittivity, corresponding to the slope of the polarization
curve, is not constant as in dielectrics but is a function of the
external electric field.
In addition to being nonlinear, ferroelectric materials
demonstrate a spontaneous nonzero polarization even when the
applied field E is zero
 Applications
The nonlinear nature of ferroelectric materials can be used to
make capacitors with tunable capacitance. Typically, a 
ferroelectric capacitor simply consists of a pair of electrodes
sandwiching a layer of ferroelectric material. The permittivity
of ferroelectrics is not only tunable but commonly also very
high in absolute value, especially when close to the phase
transition temperature. Because of this, ferroelectric
capacitors are small in physical size compared to dielectric
(non-tunable) capacitors of similar capacitance.

The spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric materials

implies a hysteresis effect which can be used as a memory
function, and ferroelectric capacitors are indeed used to
make ferroelectric RAM
Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM, F-RAM or FRAM) is a 
random-access memory similar in construction to DRAM but
using a ferroelectric layer instead of a dielectric layer to
achieve non-volatility. FeRAM is one of a growing number of
alternative non-volatile random-access memory technologies
that offer the same functionality as flash memory.
Non-volatile random-access me Flash memory
mory
 is an electronic (solid-state) non-vol
(NVRAM atile computer storage medium that
) is random-access memory that r can be electrically erased and reprog
etains its information when powe rammed.
r is turned off. This is in contras
t to dynamic random-access mem
ory (DRAM) and static random-ac
cess memory (SRAM), which both
maintain data only for as long as
power is applied.
 Tunable dielectrics
The dielectric materials, which have a voltage-
dependent dielectric constant, are termed as tunable
dielectric materials. Generally this class of
materials exhibits a large change in dielectric
constant with an applied DC electric field. The major
classes of materials being considered for tunable
dielectric applications are ferroelectrics in their
paraelectric state.
For a microwave engineer the main attraction of a
tunable material is the strong dependence of
their dielectric permittivity ε on the applied bias
electric field.
A figure of merit K (K-factor), defined by
K=Tunability/tanδ

is often used to indicate the quality of the tunable

dielectric materials

Usually, in the calculation of K, the loss tangent at

the maximum external DC electric field is used
High and Low Frequency Comparison

100 MHz
5

Loss tangent · 10
200
Permittivity

4
160
3
120 100 kHz 2
80 1
0

-2
-8 -4 0 4 8
Applied Voltage (V)
Tunable materials for microwave devices

Microwave materials have been widely used in a

variety of applications ranging from communication
devices to satellite services and the study of their
properties at microwave frequencies and the
development of functional microwave materials have
always been among the most active areas of materials
science, and electrical and electronic engineering.

Microwave tunable passive devices mainly include

filters, phase shifters, delay lines and matching
circuits.
 Conventional Band Pass Filter Design
BST Capacitors
(Top Electrode)
BST Ground Plane for the BST capacitors
Bondwires

RF in + DC bias
(via a bias-tee)

RF out

Decoupling Inductors
Capacitors Connect decoupling
Microstrip’s Ground Plane capacitors to the
ground
Dielectric

• Lumped element circuit

• 200 MHz Chebychev design
In this scenario a single tunable component is
employed to replace several fixed components. For
example, a band pass filter (BPF) with a tunable pass
band could replace several fixed filters or a tunable
delay line could replace a set of fixed delay lines in
the beam-forming network of a phased array antenna

The ferroelectric material Barium strontium titanate (BST) is

of particular interest for tunable microwave devices since it
has a high dielectric constant that can be tuned by applying an
electric field, and it exhibits relatively low losses at
microwave frequencies. The high dielectric constant is useful
for minimizing the size of the component fabricated from
BST, leading to higher integration.
BST varactors have some important advantages over
semiconductor varactors including higher power
handling and lower cost. It has been shown that BST
varactors have lower device losses than silicon based
varactors at frequencies above 10 GHz

Voltage tunable (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films and ceramics have

been extensively investigated due to their high power
handling capacity and large tunability over a wide frequency
range.

Ferroelectric sodium potassium niobium oxide

NaxK(1-x)NbO3 is another candidate material considered for
the tunable applications. It is a continuous solid solution of
KNbO3 and NaNbO3, having a pervoskite structure for
The combined properties of memory, piezoelectricity, and 
pyroelectricity make ferroelectric capacitors very useful, e.g.
for sensor applications

Single-crystal sample preparation The single crystals evaluated were

grown by a solution Bridgman method with a Pt crucible supported at the
bottom by a conical insulator stand. The crystals without Pt
contamination from the crucible have the dimensions of 50 mm (2 inches)
diameter, 35 mm height, and 325 g weight. The as-grown single crystals
were cut along [100] of the original cubic direction confirmed by X-ray
diffraction and from Laue photographs. The single-crystal samples with
dimensions of 4.0W(width)x13L(length)x0.36T(thickness) mm for k31, kt
and d31 and 4.2Wx4.2Lx12T mm for k33 and d33 were prepared to
evaluate the dielectric and piezoelectric properties. Gold electrodes for
the following DC poling and electrical measurements were fabricated by
conventional sputtering. Poling was conducted at 40 ºC for 10 min by
applying 1.0 kV/mm to obtain resonators with various vibration modes.
. Ferroelectric capacitors are used in medical
ultrasound machines (the capacitors generate and
then listen for the ultrasound ping used to image the
internal organs of a body), high quality infrared
cameras (the infrared image is projected onto a two
dimensional array of ferroelectric capacitors capable
of detecting temperature differences as small as
millionths of a degree Celsius), fire sensors, sonar,
vibration sensors, and even fuel injectors on diesel
engines.
Yet another hot topic is 
multiferroics, where
researchers are looking
for ways to couple
magnetic and
ferroelectric ordering
within a material or
heterostructure

Schematic picture of the four possible domain states of a

ferroelectric ferromagnetic material. Both, the polarization
(electric dipole indicated by charges) and the magnetization
(red arrow), may have two orientations. The domains are
separated by different types of domain walls, classified by
the order parameter that is changed throughout the wall.
 Need for non ferroelectric
tunable materials
Non ferroelectric tunable materials having low
loss at the microwave frequencies are needed,
even if the tunability is relatively lower since the
low losses could lead to higher K factor.
Bi2O3-ZnO-Nb2O5 (BZN) system exhibits a high dielectric
permittivity (εr), relatively low dielectric loss (tanδ), and a
compositionally tunable temperature coefficient of
capacitance (τc). These properties, combined with lower
sintering temperatures (less than 950°C), make these
materials attractive candidates for high frequency filter
applications and in multilayered capacitors based on co-fired
ceramic structures
Bi2O3- ZnO-Nb2O5 based pyrochlore ceramics is one of the
few non ferroelectric material known today exhibiting
voltage dependent dielectric permittivity. Because of
being non ferroelectric, this material exhibits low
loss and high figure of merit in the microwave
frequency region

The Pyrochlore structure

(1/8 unit cell). Large blue
spheres are ′A3+ ions, small
yellow spheres are B4+ ions,
and large red spheres are
O2- ions.
Differential phase shifts with applied DC
bias of c-BZN based phase shifter
• Exercise: Give a definition and an example for
the Perovskite structure

A perovskite structure is any

material with the same type
of crystal structure as 
calcium titanium oxide
 (CaTiO3), known as
the perovskite structure,
or XIIA2+VIB4+X2−3 with the
oxygen in the face
Ex: complex oxide centers
BaTiO3
• Exercise: Draw the structure of PZT ceramic below and above the Curie
temperature.
In SrTiO3, Ti-O ~ 1.95 Å
a typical bond length for
Ti-O; stable as a cubic
structure

larger

In BaTiO3, Ti-O is stretched, > 2.0

Å.Too long for a stable structure.
Ti displaces off its central position
towards one oxygen
 square pyramidal coordination
This creates a net dipole moment :

Displacement by 5-10% Ti-O bond length

Random dipole orientations: paraelectric

Aligned dipole orientations: ferroelectric

Under an applied electric field, dipole orientations can be

reversed, i.e. the structure is polarisable
Dipoles tend to be ‘frozen in’ at room temperature; as the
temperature increases, thermal vibrations increase the
polarizability
Below 120°C, BaTiO3 is ferroelectric with aligned
dipoles.
Residual dipole disorder gives ´~200-1000
´ increases to ~5,000-10,000 with increasing T

At ~127°C, tetragonal  cubic phase transition.

Dipoles randomise and ´ decreases
Effect of grain size

instability
Exercises:

Dielectrics which are neither

piezoelectric nor pyroelectric have zero
polarization when the field E is zero. (True or
false ?)

Some dielectric crystals are piezoelectric, and

some of the piezoelectric crystals are
Pyroelectric (True or false?)
Consumer Electronics Applications
• Quartz crystals resonators
as frequency stabilizers for
oscillators in all computers.
• Accelerometers: In a
piezoelectric accelerometer
a mass is attached to a
spring that is attached to a
piezoelectric crystal. When
subjected to vibration the
mass compresses and
stretches the piezo electric
crystal. (iPhone)
Motor Applications
• Piezoelectric elements can be
used in laser mirror alignment,
where their ability to move a
large mass (the mirror mount)
over microscopic distances is
exploited. By electronically
vibrating the mirror it gives the
light reflected off it a Doppler
shift to fine tune the laser's
frequency.
• The piezo motor is viewed as a
high-precision replacement for
the stepper motor.
• Traveling-wave motors used for
auto-focus in cameras.
Experiment
 Procedure
1) Attach a mirror to the piezoelectric buzzer. Position
that laser so that the beam can reflect off of the
mirror and hit the wall across the room.
2) Connect the function generator to the Piezoelectric
device. Find the resonant frequency of the device
by slowly increasing the frequency at 10Vp-p. The
laser will vibrate the most at the resonant
frequency.
3) Measure the diameter of the laser without any
signal. Then measure the diameter of the laser with
the AC signal applied.
4) Calculate the displacement of the laser and divide it
by two to get the amplitude of the magnified change
in volume for the piezoelectric material.
5) Measure the distance from the piezo to the wall and
to the laser. Also measure the height of the laser
and reflected beam in relation to the piezo.
6) Calculate the change in volume for the piezoelectric
material.
Error Analysis
The laser’s diameter expands over a distance.
The quality of the mirror scatters the laser.
The sinusoidal vibration of the material amplifies the
laser’s displacement.
What are some applications?
 Piezoelectricity in Civil
Engineering Applications

In 2006, Japan East Railway Company installed piezoelectric

floors in an exit gate of their Tokyo Station. The m2
piezoelectric floor was reported to generate a maximum
energy of 10KW per day.

In a pilot study carried out by InnowattechLtd.in association

with Technion Israel Institute of Technology,a 10-m stretch
of piezoelectric generators were placed under a high way in
Israel in 2009.The reported average power output was
2KWh,and the obtained energy was stored in a battery beside
the road.