Internal electrical and strain fields influence on the electrical tunability of epitaxial Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films

Perpetual demand for higher transfer speed and ever increasing miniaturization of radio and microwave telecommunication devices demands new materials with high electrical tunability. We have investigated built in electrical and strain fields' influence on the electrical tunability in Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin film hetero- system grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. We observed the built in electrical field by local piezo-force microscopy (as deflected hysteresis loops) and macroscopic impedance analysis (as asymmetric tunability curves), with the calculated 88 kV/cm built in field at room temperature. Negative-1.4% misfit strain (due to clamping by the substrate) enhanced ferroelectric phase transition temperature in Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin film by more than 300 K. Built in fields do not deteriorate functional film properties- dielectric permittivity and tunability are comparable to the best to date values observed in Ba1-xSrxTiO3 thin films. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.