Ferroelectric switching and fatigue behavior for PZT/YBCO thin film heterostructures

Abstract

The dielectric and ferroelectric properties for Au/Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃/YBa₂Cu₃O_7?x heterostructures at low temperatures are reported. The fatigue behavior and the ferroelectric switching effect for the structures are also investigated. The PZT/YBCO thin film heterostructures were deposited on MgO(100) substrates by laser ablation. The ferroelectric and dielectric properties and optical response of the oriented PZT films with different thicknesses have been studied over the temperature range from 20 K to 300 K. The dielectric loss of the structure was found to decrease by an order of magnitude when the YBCO bottom electrode became superconducting. A very low fatigue rate of the structure has also been obtained below T _c of YBCO layer.