@article{ad5978d5186b422e8c7bd0b232fcf31a,
title = "Anomalously abrupt switching of wurtzite-structured ferroelectrics: simultaneous non-linear nucleation and growth model",
abstract = "Ferroelectric polarization switching is one common example of a process that occurs via nucleation and growth, and understanding switching kinetics is crucial for applications such as ferroelectric memory. Here we describe and interpret anomalous switching dynamics in the wurtzite-structured nitride thin film ferroelectrics Al0.7Sc0.3N and Al0.94B0.06N using a general model that can be directly applied to other abrupt transitions that proceed via nucleation and growth. When substantial growth and impingement occur while nucleation rate is increasing, such as in these wurtzite-structured ferroelectrics under high electric fields, abrupt polarization reversal leads to very large Avrami coefficients (e.g., n = 11), inspiring an extension of the KAI (Kolmogorov-Avrami-Ishibashi) model. We apply this extended model to two related but distinct scenarios that crossover between (typical) behavior described by sequential nucleation and growth and a more abrupt transition arising from significant growth prior to peak nucleation rate. This work therefore provides a more complete description of general nucleation and growth kinetics applicable to any system while specifically addressing the anomalously abrupt polarization reversal behavior in new wurtzite-structured ferroelectrics.",
author = "Keisuke Yazawa and John Hayden and Maria, {Jon Paul} and Wanlin Zhu and Susan Trolier-McKinstry and Andriy Zakutayev and Brennecka, {Geoff L.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was co-authored by Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding was provided by the DARPA Tunable Ferroelectric Nitrides (TUFEN) program (DARPA-PA-19-04-03) as a part of Development and Exploration of FerroElectric Nitride Semiconductors (DEFENSE) project (electrical characterization), by the Office of Science (SC), Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) as part of the Early Career Award “Kinetic Synthesis of Metastable Nitrides” (AlScN material synthesis), and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-2119281 (data analysis, and manuscript preparation). Development of the AlBN film growth methods was supported by grants DARPA grants HR0011-20-9-0047 and W911NF-20-20274, while the film deposition was supported as part of the center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics (3DFeM), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0021118. We also thank Dr Kevin Talley of Mines and NREL and Danny Drury of Mines, NREL, and the Army Research Laboratory for their assistance with sputtering system modification and setup. 1-x x Funding Information: This work was co-authored by Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding was provided by the DARPA Tunable Ferroelectric Nitrides (TUFEN) program (DARPA-PA-19-04-03) as a part of Development and Exploration of FerroElectric Nitride Semiconductors (DEFENSE) project (electrical characterization), by the Office of Science (SC), Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) as part of the Early Career Award “Kinetic Synthesis of Metastable Nitrides” (AlScN material synthesis), and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-2119281 (data analysis, and manuscript preparation). Development of the Al1-xBxN film growth methods was supported by grants DARPA grants HR0011-20-9-0047 and W911NF-20-20274, while the film deposition was supported as part of the center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics (3DFeM), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0021118. We also thank Dr Kevin Talley of Mines and NREL and Danny Drury of Mines, NREL, and the Army Research Laboratory for their assistance with sputtering system modification and setup. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",
year = "2023",
month = may,
day = "3",
doi = "10.1039/d3mh00365e",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "10",
pages = "2936--2944",
journal = "Materials Horizons",
issn = "2051-6347",
publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",
number = "8",
}