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Ce-doped bismuth ferrite thin films with improved electrical and functional properties

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Abstract

Bi1−xCexFeO3 (BCFO) thin film capacitors (x = 0 to 0.2) are fabricated on indium tin oxide coated corning glass substrate by chemical solution deposition method. X-ray diffraction results show a partial phase transition from rhombohedral to tetragonal structure induced in BCFO thin film having preferred (110) orientation with increase in Ce dopant concentration. Current density–field (J–E) characteristics indicate that the leakage current density reduces by several orders of magnitude in Ce-doped BFO thin films resulting from smaller grain sizes and smoother surfaces. Space-charge-limited current and Fowler–Nordheim tunneling are identified as dominating leakage behavior in BCFO thin film capacitors at moderate and high field regions, respectively. Enhanced ferroelectric response with well-saturated (P–E) hysteresis loop is observed for Bi0.88Ce0.12FeO3 thin film having high remnant polarization (P r—127 µC/cm2) at an applied field of 1080 kV/cm. Bi0.88Ce0.12FeO3 thin film exhibiting well-defined capacitance–field (C–E) butterfly loop with dielectric loss (tan δ—0.03) measured at 10 kHz suggested good ferroelectric properties with high tunability of about 88 %.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to Department of Science & Technology, Government of India for the financial support to carry out the work. One of the authors (SG) is thankful to the University of Delhi for the research fellowship (UTA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Surbhi Gupta & Vinay Gupta

  2. Physics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Monika Tomar

  3. Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, India

    A. R. James

Authors
  1. Surbhi Gupta
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  2. Monika Tomar
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  3. A. R. James
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  4. Vinay Gupta
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Correspondence to Vinay Gupta.

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Gupta, S., Tomar, M., James, A.R. et al. Ce-doped bismuth ferrite thin films with improved electrical and functional properties. J Mater Sci 49, 5355–5364 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8243-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8243-y

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