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Electrodes: the real performers in single-barrier ferroelectric tunnel junctions

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Abstract

To study the role of the emitter and collector electrode materials in Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions (FTJs), an in-depth theoretical investigation of 4 single-barrier FTJs (Pt/BTO/SRO, Pt/BTO/Pt, SRO/BTO/SRO, and SRO/BTO/Pt) is reported. Compared with all known conduction mechanisms in FTJ, it is found that direct quantum tunneling provides the most predominant contribution to the current density in the above systems for the bias range of 0–1.2 V. The lowering of the barrier height and asymmetry in the barrier profile which determines the tunneling current is controlled by the potential drop in the accumulation region in the emitter and the depletion region in the collector which depends on the ratio of screening length, \(\delta\), to permittivity, \(\epsilon\), of the corresponding electrodes. The tunneling electro-resistance ratio (TER) is found to have significant values for bias potential \(V>\left|P\right|\left(\frac{{\delta }_{1}}{{\epsilon }_{1}}+\frac{{\delta }_{2}}{{\epsilon }_{2}}\right)\) wherein the screening charge density \({\sigma }_{s},\) and the net charge density in the barrier layer \(\left({\sigma }_{s}-P\right)\) remain negative resulting in the pull-down of the barrier toward the Fermi level and producing a negative slope in the barrier to increase the tunneling current. Among the studied systems, Pt/BTO/SRO provides the highest TER. Specifically, Pt/24Ǻ BTO/SRO system with an active device length of 5.6 nm is found to have a current density of 2.54 × 104A/cm2 and 1.28 × 102A/cm2 in the ON and OFF state and a TER of nearly 20,000% at the bias of 0.71 V confirming to the necessary conditions of efficient application in memory devices.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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  1. Department of Physics, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to Be) University, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751030, India

    Sushree Ipsita, Sunil Ku. Sahu & P. K. Mahapatra

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  1. Sushree Ipsita
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  2. Sunil Ku. Sahu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study, conception, and design. Theoretical formulation, data collection, and analysis were performed by SI, SKS, and PKM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SI and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sushree Ipsita.

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Ipsita, S., Sahu, S.K. & Mahapatra, P.K. Electrodes: the real performers in single-barrier ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Appl. Phys. A 129, 628 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-06887-5

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