Microwave characterization of two Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 dielectric thin films with out-of-plane and in-plane electrode structures

Hanchi Ruan; Theo Graves Saunders; Henry Giddens; Hangfeng Zhang; Achintha Avin Ihalage; Jonas Florentin Kolb; Matthew Blunt; Sajad Haq; Haixue Yan; Yang Hao

doi:10.26599/JAC.2023.9220769

Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2023, 12(8): 1521-1532 https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220769

Research Article |

Open Access | Issue | Published: 18 July 2023

Microwave characterization of two Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ dielectric thin films with out-of-plane and in-plane electrode structures

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Hanchi Ruan^{^a}, Theo Graves Saunders^{^a}, Henry Giddens^{^a}, Hangfeng Zhang^{^b}, Achintha Avin Ihalage^{^a}, Jonas Florentin Kolb^{^a}, Matthew Blunt^{^c}, Sajad Haq^{^d}, Haixue Yan^{^b}(

), Yang Hao^{^a}(

)

aSchool of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK

bSchool of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK

cDepartment of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, UK

dAdvanced Services and Products, QinetiQ, Farnborough GU14 0LX, UK

Keywords:

thin film, polarization, microwave, tunability, ferroelectric (FE)

Cite this article:

Ruan H, Saunders TG, Giddens H, et al. Microwave characterization of two Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ dielectric thin films with out-of-plane and in-plane electrode structures. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2023, 12(8): 1521-1532. https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220769

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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Abstract

Ferroelectric (FE) thin films have recently attracted renewed interest in research due to their great potential for designing novel tunable electromagnetic devices such as large intelligent surfaces (LISs). However, the mechanism of how a polar structure in the FE thin films contributes to desired tunable performance, especially within the microwave frequency range, which is the most widely used frequency range of electromagnetics, has not been illustrated clearly. In this paper, we described several straightforward and cost-effective methods to fabricate and characterize Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) thin films at microwave frequencies. The prepared BST thin films here exhibit homogenous structures and great tunability ( $η$ ) in a wide frequency and temperature range when the applied field is in the out-of-plane direction. The high tunability can be attributed to high concentration of polar nanoclusters. Their response to the applied direct current (DC) field was directly visualized using a novel non-destructive near-field scanning microwave microscopy (NSMM) technique. Our results have provided some intriguing insights into the application of the FE thin films for future programmable high-frequency devices and systems.

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About this article

Microwave characterization of two Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ dielectric thin films with out-of-plane and in-plane electrode structures

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Hanchi Ruan^{^a}, Theo Graves Saunders^{^a}, Henry Giddens^{^a}, Hangfeng Zhang^{^b}, Achintha Avin Ihalage^{^a}, Jonas Florentin Kolb^{^a}, Matthew Blunt^{^c}, Sajad Haq^{^d}, Haixue Yan^{^b}(

), Yang Hao^{^a}(

)

aSchool of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK

bSchool of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK

cDepartment of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, UK

dAdvanced Services and Products, QinetiQ, Farnborough GU14 0LX, UK

Abstract

Keywords: thin film, polarization, microwave, tunability, ferroelectric (FE)

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Received: 28 February 2023

Revised: 28 April 2023

Accepted: 18 May 2023

Published: 18 July 2023

Issue date: August 2023

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Anestis Katsounaros for providing instruction about the NSMM measurement. This work was supported by the "Software Defined Materials for Dynamic Control of Electromagnetic Waves" (ANIMATE) Project (QinetiQ IRAD Grant No. 41025673 and EPSRC Grant No. EP/R035393/1), and the authors acknowledge QinetiQ and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Hanchi Ruan acknowledges EPSRC for funding the Ph.D. studentship.

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