Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

(Electric dipoles, polarization and

ferroelectric materials)

Prepared by
Abdullah Khalil Hassan
70885
Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Ferroelectricity:-

Electric dipole:
It's a system of two charges that have the same magnitude but opposite in sign
separated by definite distance.

Electric dipole moment:

Is a measure of separation of positive and negative charges in a system of charges.

Where: M= Electric dipole moment.

q= Electric charge.

d= displacement vector in the direction from negative to positive charge.

The dipole moment of any array of charge (total dipole moment) that determines the
degree of polarity of the array:

Applying Electric field on the Electric diploe:

When an external electric field applied on the electric dipole a torque will be
subjected on the electric dipole with a magnitude:

This torque will rotate the electric dipole to make its dipole moment align with the
direction of the external field.
 Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Electric Polarization:
The total dipole moment per unit volume.

Also,

Where: = permittivity of free space (dielectric constant).

= electric susceptibility.

E = external electric field.

Where the dielectric material is that has no free charges (i.e. all charges in this
material are bounded).

Electric susceptibility measure the response of the material to be polarized when an

external electric field applied, and is defined as electric polarization per unit electric
field.

Where:

Where: relative permittivity.

Permittivity of the material.

Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Types of polarization:
1- Electronic polarization:

Applying electric field will displace the center of positive (nucleus) and negative
(electrons) charges and induce a diploe moment called induced dipole moment that
given by:

Where: = constant of proportionality called electronic polarizability.

But there is internal electric field that can reduce the applied electric field and given
by

2- Ionic (atomic) polarization:

Occurs in ionic crystals which have positive and negative ions that is arranged to give
zero net charges in the absence of electric field, but in the presence of electric field
the relative distance between the positive and negative ions increases giving a net
polarization (i.e. change in bond angels and inter atomic distances).

And the induced dipole moment is given by:

Where: ionic (atomic) polarizability.

3- Orientation polarization:

It occurs in polar crystals in the absence of electric field dipoles are arranged
randomly giving a zero polarization, but in presence of electric field dipoles are
oriented parallel to the field giving a net polarization.
Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Materials classified as:

1- Insulators.
2- Semiconductors.
3- Conductors.
4- Superconductors.

Insulators can be divided into:

a. Polar materials, materials that have permanent dipoles without applying

electric field.
b. Non polar materials, materials that required an external electric field to be
have electric dipoles.

Polar materials divided into:

a. Piezoelectric materials, materials in which the equilibrium position of ions

change when a stress applied on the sample, the applied stress will induce
polarization and this process known as piezoelectric effect.
b. Non piezoelectric materials, materials in which the equilibrium position of
ions doesn't change when a stress applied on the sample.

Piezoelectric materials divided into:

a. Pyroelectric materials, materials in which the magnitude of the spontaneous

polarization depends on the temperature.
b. Non pyroelectric materials, materials in which the magnitude of the
spontaneous polarization doesn't depend on the temperature.

Pyroelectric materials divided into:

a. Ferroelectric materials, pyroelectric materials which have spontaneous

polarization.
b. Non ferroelectric materials, pyroelectric materials that have no spontaneous
polarization.

Ferroelectric materials:
Ferroelectricity is the phenomenon where spontaneous electric polarization of the
material takes place.

Properties of ferroelectric materials:

1- Domain and domain boundary:

Ferroelectric materials is found to be divided into a number of ferroelectric domains.

Each domain contains a large number of dipoles that have the same direction. These
domains separated by domain boundary.
 Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Domains only differ in the polarization direction.

The domain walls have negligible length compared with the dimensions of the
domains.

If we apply an external electric field to the ferroelectric crystal, polarization takes

place in to processes:

1- For weak field:

The volume of the domains that have polarization in the direction of the
applied field will grow in size on the expense of other domains.
2- For strong field:
In this case a domain prefers to orient themselves in the direction of the
applied field.

2- Hysteresis loop:

It gives a relation between the polarization and the electric field.

Where:

Ps = saturation polarization.

Pr = remnant polarization, the value of polarization when applied electric field

reduced to zero.
Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

Ec = coercive field, value of electric field required to reduce the polarization of the
material to zero.

3- Phase transition:

Phase transition occurs at certain temperature called Curie temperature, at this

temperature the material transforms from ferroelectric phase into paraelectric phase,
where below this temperature the system will exhibit the ferroelectric property.

Near the Curie temperature the system behavior and electrical, mechanical and optical
properties changed.

Where the permittivity will have very high values near Curie temperature where its
value given by:

Where: C = Curie constant.

Tc = Curie temperature.

Types of phase transition:

1- First order phase transition, when the first derivative of the free energy,
entropy and polarization with respect to temperature exhibit a discontinuity.
2- Second-order phase transitions, when there is continuity in the first derivative
but exhibit discontinuity in a second derivative of the free energy, entropy and
polarization with respect to temperature.

Applications of Ferroelectric Materials

1. Capacitors – A capacitor is an electronic component used for a number of

electronic circuits. It consists of 2 electrodes with a dielectric material in between. A
Ferroelectric Material is preferred for the manufacturing of a capacitor. Capacitors are
generally formed by the Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) material. Where the internal
electric dipoles of a ferroelectric material are coupled to the material lattice so
anything that changes the lattice will change the strength of the dipoles (in other
words, a change in the spontaneous polarization). The change in the spontaneous
polarization results in a change in the surface charge. This can cause current flow in
the case of a ferroelectric capacitor even without the presence of an external voltage
across the capacitor.
Ferroelectricity Abdullah Khalil Hassan 70885

2. Storage memories – SRAM and DRAM are volatile. EEPROM and CMOS require
a battery backup and are very costly. Ferroelectric Random Access Memory is non-
volatile as well as cheaper. FRAM is reliable as well.

3. Waveguides – A waveguide is a device which controls the propagation of light

within the device. It carries the electromagnetic wave. The material used inside a
waveguide is a Ferroelectric Material.

4. Optical Memory Display – Latest optical memory displays technologies are devised
using the Ferroelectric Material. PLZT is most preferred Ferroelectric Material for
this purpose.