Switching fatigue of ferroelectric layered-perovskite thin films: temperature effect

We study the switching fatigue behaviors of ferroelectric layered-perovskite oxide films, including SrBi2Ta2O9, Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 and Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates, at various temperatures. It is found that the damaged ferroelectric polarization and dielectric response in the fatigued films can be easily rejuvenated under a high external electric field, for which the localization of the defect and charge accumulation is argued to be responsible. It is proposed that the probability of fatigue rejuvenation can be characterized by the kinetics of domain wall pinning and depinning which depends on the stability of perovskite-like slabs against defect/charge diffusion and/or the self-regulation of the (Bi2O2)(2), layer to compensate for space charges. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.