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Antiferroelectric PbHfO3 is grown from atomic layer deposition precursors lead bis(dimethylaminomethylpropanolate) and tetrakis dimethylamino hafnium with H2O and O3 oxidizers in thicknesses from 20 nm to 200 nm at a substrate temperature of 250 °C. X-ray analysis shows an as-grown crystalline PbO phase that diffuses into an amorphous HfO2 matrix upon annealing to form a randomly oriented, orthorhombic PbHfO3 thin film. Electrical characterization reveals characteristic double hysteresis loops with maximum polarizations of around 30 µC/cm2 and transition fields of 350 kV/cm–500 kV/cm depending on the thickness. Temperature-dependent permittivity and polarization testing show a phase transition at 185 °C, most probably to the paraelectric phase, but give no clear evidence for the intermediate phase known from bulk PbHfO3. The energy storage density for the films reaches 16 J/cm3 at 2 MV/cm. A dielectric tunability of 221% is available within 1 V for the thinnest film. These results highlight the unique spectrum of properties available for thin film perovskite antiferroelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiferroelectrics have been recently sparking interest due to their potential use in energy storage and electrocaloric cooling. Their main distinctive feature is antiferroelectric switching, i.e., the possibility to induce a phase transition to a polar phase by an electric field. Here, we investigate the switching behavior of the model antiferroelectric perovskite PbZrO3 using thin films processed by chemical solution deposition in different geometries and orientations. Both out-of-plane and in-plane switching configurations are investigated. The critical field is observed to be highly dependent on the direction of the electric field with respect to the film texture. We show that this behavior is qualitatively consistent with a phase transition to a rhombohedral polar phase. We finally estimate the importance of crystallite orientation and film texturation in the variations observed in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]