FERROELECTRIC

CERAMICS:
properties,
processing and
applications
 Introduction
 A ferroelectric ceramic mixes the
smartness of a ferroelectric material
and the tailoring possibilities of
ceramics.
 Since both kind of materials exhibit
many interesting properties, the
mixture should be good…
Ferroelectrics: ferroelectric
domains
 Ferroelectric domains are generated by coupling between
dipole moments of atoms.
 When subjected to electric field, the domains pointing towards
its direction start to grow over its neighbouring domains.
Ferroelectrics: hysteresis
loop
 Saturation and
remanent
polarization
 Coercive field
 Possibility to reverse
the polarization
 Smart material: it
keeps information
(remanent
poalrization)
 Ferroelectrics: phase
transition
 Ferroelectricity is a phase transition (Curie
point)
 Ferroelectric phase has always lower symmetry
 Example: BaTiO3 (cubic changes into tetragonal)
Ferroelectrics: summary
 Present spontanous polarization
 Polarization can be inversed
 Ferroelectric domains
 Hysteresis loop
 Ferroelectricity is a phase transition
 Piezoelectric and pyroelectric effect
 Ceramics is a wide
term…
 The term ceramics
covers all
inorganic non-
metallic materials
whose formation is
due to the action of
heat.
 So you could think
something like
this…
…but we are dealing with
ADVANCED ceramics!

We can control,
modify and
optimize its
properties by
 Properties of ceramics
 Mechanical: poor toughness (under study)
 Electrical: semiconductors,
superconductors, piezoelectrics,
pyroelectrics, ferroelectrics (BaTiO 3, PZT…)
 High resistance to abrasion
 Excellent hot strength
 Chemical inertness
 We can tailor properties for specific
applications
 Why are ferroelectric
ceramics so important?
FERROELECTRICS CERAMICS
 High permittivities  Broad range of
 Spontaneus chemical composition
polarization  Control of grain size,
 Electric conducticity porosity…
can be controlled  Possibility of varying
 Piezoelectric and its shape and size.
pyroelectric effect  High resistance to
 Optical anisotropy, abrasion
electrooptic an  Excellent hot strength
photorefractive deffect  Chemical inertness
All this properties lead to a lot of
potential applications!
 1. General Procedure of
Processing
 Raw
Materials
 Mixing
 Calcining
 Character
 Milling
-ization
 Poling
 Sinterin
g
 Binder
Burnout
1. raw materials
Weighing the raw
materials according to
the stoichiometric
formula of the
ferroelectric ceramic
desired .
 2. Mixing
Mixing the
powders either
mechanically or
Mechanical mixing is usually done by either ball milling or
chemically

attrition milling for a short time.
 Chemical mixing on the other hand is more homogeneous as
it is done by precipitating the precursors in the same
container.
 3.Calcination
The solid phase reaction
takes place between the
constituents giving the
ferroelectric phase
during the calcination
step
 4. Milling
The lumps are ground
by milling after
calcining.
5. binder burnout

After shaping, the green

bodies are heated very
slowly to between 500-
600° C in order to remove
any binder present.
 6.Sintering
 Afterthe binder burnout
is over, the samples are
taken to a higher
temperature for
sintering to take place.
 7.Poling
 it does not show any piezoelectricity
when the ferroelectric ceramic is cooled
after sintering . Piezoelectric behavior
can be induced in a ferroelectric
ceramic by a process called "poling" .
 In this process a direct current (dc)
electric field with a strength larger than
the coercive field strength is applied to
the ferroelectric ceramic at a high
temperature, but below the Curie point.
8.Characterizati
on
On the application of the
external dc field the spontaneous
polarization within each grain
gets orientated towards the
direction of the applied field.
This leads to a net polarization
in the poling direction
Two special important
methods widely uses in
the labs .
1. Metal Organic
Decomposition (MOD)
2. (2)hot-pressed solid-
state sintering method
 1. MOD
Metal Organic
 MOD:

Decomposition
1. spin-coat the solution on a bulk Si
wafer at 4000 rpm, 20 seconds .
2. the film is baked on hot plate at 150 for
10 minutes to remove the solvent .
3. then the film is given a pyrolysis heat
treatment in a furnace at 470 ℃for 30
minutes to remove the residual organics
and promote chemical reaction

Desired thickness of the film is

achieved
Ferroelectric BST-thick film ceramic on an
alumina substrate
 2. hot-pressed solid-
state sintering method
 SEM
micrograph of
a cross section
of PLZT
transparent
ferroelectric
ceramics.
 hot-pressed solid-state
sintering method
 PbO, La2O3, ZnO, Nb2O5, ZrO2, and TiO2
with purity of 99.4–99.8% and micrometer
particle size were used as starting
materials. The stoichiometric mixture was
ballmilled in a plastic container with
zirconia grinding media in alcohol solution,
then dried and ground. The ground mixture
powders were pressed under 80
kg/pressure into a cylindrical bar of 60 mm
in diameter and 60 mm in height.
 hot-pressed solid-state
sintering method
During a sintering process, an oxygen flow
of 3 L/min was passed through the oven.
The sintering temperature was elevated to
950 °C at a rate of 200 °C/h and kept for
1⁄2 h, then pressure was gradually applied
to the sample until 480 kg/ while the oven
temperature was increased to 1200 °C at
the same time.
 hot-pressed solid-state
sintering method
The temperature and pressure were kept
for 6 h before the pressure was released.
Subsequently, the temperature was
continuously increased to 1250 °C in 1⁄2 h
and kept for 10 h. After sintering, the oven
was cooled down to 950 °C at a rate of 140
°C/h and then cooled naturally until room
temperature. The sintered specimen was
cut and polished to obtain the required size
for different measurements.
 Applications of
Ferroelectric
Ceramics ( general
overview )
 background
 Ferroelectric ceramics are used in a
very broad range of functional
ceramics and form the materials
base for the majority of electronic
applications. These electronic
applicators account for more than
60% of the total high technology
ceramics market worldwide
 Capacitors
 Basic principle
(e 0e r A)
C=
t
 e0
'C' is the capacitance, is the
permittivity
er of free space, is the
relative dielectric permittivity, 't' is
the distance between the electrodes,
'A' is the area of the electrodes.
 multilayer ceramic
(MLC)
 The volumetric efficiency can be
further enhanced .
 consists of alternate layers of
dielectric and electrode material.

(ne 0e r A)
C=
t
 Ferroelectric Memories
 FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access
Memory) is a non-volatile memory
combining both ROM and RAM
advantages in addition to non-
volatility features. It has higher
speed in write mode, lower power
consumption and higher endurance
Overview of FRAM
 Advantages over
EEPROM
 Transaction Time
- 30,000 times faster than EEROM
 Energy Consumption
 200 times lower power consumption
compare to EEPROM
 1 FRAM Cycle is just Reading
 1 EEPROM Cycle consists of erasing ,
writing and reading
 Endurance
 100,000 times higher endurance
over EEPROM and the energy
consumption is at 64Byte every
write cycle
 Electro-optic Applications
  Ferroelectric Thin Film Waveguides.
An optical waveguide controls the
propagation of light in a transparent
material (ferroelectric thin film)
along a certain path
  Ferroelectric Thin Film Optical
Memory Displays .
Other Ferroelectric Thin Film
Applications
 Pyroelectric Detectors :Pyroelectric
detectors are current sources with
an output proportional to the rate of
change of its temperature
 Surface Acoustic Wave
Substrates
 An elastic wave generated at the
input interdigital transducer (IDT)
travels along the surface of the
piezoelectric substrate and it is
detected by the output interdigital
transducer. These devices are mainly
used for delay lines and filters in
television and microwave
communication applications
Most Common
Commercial
Ferroelectric
Ceramic
Lead Zirconate Titanate
(PZT)
 Chemical formula Pb Zrx Ti1-x O3
 “Perovskite” ABO3
 A and B are different in size
A cation is at centre
B cation is at the corner
O atom are at centre of unit cell
faces.
Lead Zirconate Titanate
(PZT)
 generates a voltage when some
mechanical stress is applied …
piezoelectric effect
 useful for sensor and actuator application
 Doping
Acceptor doping internal friction losses
piezoelectric constant

Donor doping internal friction losses

piezoelectric constant
 Lead Zirconate Titanate
(PZT)
 Poling
High Temperature
High Voltage
 Repeat to achieve high piezoelectric
constant
 PZT Thin Films
 Used in number of devices
 Thickness of 90nm
 low crystallization temperature
 good surface morphology
 high remnant polarization
Application of
PZT

Acoustic Device for

underwater Application
 Acoustic Device for
underwater Application
 Ultrasonic Sensors
 Commercial sound waves generating
devices use PZT thin films
 Bulky ferroelectric ceramic sensors
 Acoustic Device for
underwater Application
 Hence
Thin films are used
Low fabrication cost
 Film deposition techniques
Electron beam evaporation [1]
Rf diode sputtering [2]
Ion beam deposition [3]
RF planar magnetron sputtering [4]
MOCVD [5]
ECR [6]
laser ablation [7]
and sol-
gel [8]
 Fabrication
 0.25µm oxide layer
 0.3µm Pt. electrode
 PZT thin film deposition for 2 hours
at 350˚C
 Annealing at 650˚C for 20 minutes
 Cooled to room temperature
 Fabrication

SEM patterns of deposited PZT thin film


PZT thin film annealed at 850˚C for 5 minutes
 Fabrication
 Lithography used to form a window in
silicone substrate
 Oxide layer is removed
 100µm diaphragm was created by
etching
 Successive layers of Pt, PZT and Pt
deposited
 poling under an electric field of 10kV
per cm at a temperature of 130˚C
 Results
 Improved ferroelectric property
 Improved accuracy
 Economical sensor
 Very small and light weight
 Can be used for application
underwater
 Results
 Senstivity
 Applications
 Ultra Sonic Cleaners
 SODAR
 SONAR
 Medical Diagnostics
 Printer Heads
 Gas Lighters
 Micro Positioners
 Actuators
 Annunciators
 Sensors
 Capacitors
 FRAM
 Ceramic resonators
 Memory devices in thin film form
References of all material
and
diagrams are given in
report
Thankyou for your
kind attention !!