A multifunctional oriented nanocrystalline Pb0.91La0.06Zr0.8Ti0.2O3 relaxor ferroelectric thin film for chip power and thermal management

Abstract

Development of microelectronic technology is highly desired to address chip power instability and micro-overheating in highly integrated devices utilizing a single material. For this purpose, we propose an efficient strategy by using a ferroelectric thin film to achieve the multifunction of chip power and thermal management. The Pb_0.91La_0.06Zr_0.8Ti_0.2O₃ (PLZT) thin films undergo nucleation and growth in the (100) preferred orientation on the LaNiO₃ bottom electrode during the layer-by-layer annealing process. The obtained chorogi-like structure with both lamellar and columnar nanocrystals results in a high breakdown strength of 4224 kV cm⁻¹, accompanied by an exceptional recoverable energy storage density (W_rec) of 43.20 J cm⁻³. A large adiabatic temperature change (ΔT) of 27.25 K (@2000 kV cm⁻¹) is obtained near the depolarization temperature, and the broad temperature span (80% ΔT_max) is larger than 50 °C. Moreover, PLZT thin films demonstrate a pyroelectric coefficient (π) of −145 μC cm⁻² K⁻¹ with high temperature stability, whose excellent thermal detection capability is confirmed by the infrared response measurement. Above all, the excellent energy storage, electrocaloric effect and pyroelectric properties of the PLZT thin films make them highly promising to inhibit the damage of abrupt current/voltage and uneven heat dissipation for applications in chip power and thermal management.