Interfacial phenomena in nanocapacitors with multifunctional oxides

Abstract

The analysis of the structure, chemical stability, electronic and ferroelectric properties of the interfaces between Pt(001) and PbZrTiO₃(001) have been performed with ab initio methods. We show that the chemical environment plays a critical role in determining the interfacial reconstruction and charge redistribution at the metal/oxide interfaces. We demonstrate that the difference in interfacial bonds formed at the Pt/PZT interfaces with (TiZr)O₂- and PbO-termination of PZT essentially defines the effectiveness of the screening, and ease of polarisation switching in PZT-based capacitors.