Atomic-resolution electron microscopy of nanoscale local structure in lead-based relaxor ferroelectrics.

Relaxor ferroelectrics, which can exhibit exceptional electromechanical coupling, are some of the most important functional materials, with applications ranging from ultrasound imaging to actuators. Since their discovery, their complex nanoscale chemical and structural heterogeneity has made the origins of their electromechanical properties extremely difficult to understand. Here, we employ aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to quantify various types of nanoscale heterogeneities and their connection to local polarization in the prototypical relaxor ferroelectric system Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3. We identify three main contributions that each depend on Ti content: chemical order, oxygen octahedral tilt and oxygen octahedral distortion. These heterogeneities are found to be spatially correlated with low-angle polar domain walls, indicating their role in disrupting long-range polarization and leading to nanoscale domain formation and the relaxor response. We further locate nanoscale regions of monoclinic-like distortion that correlate directly with Ti content and electromechanical performance. Through this approach, the connections between chemical heterogeneity, structural heterogeneity and local polarization are revealed, validating models that are needed to develop the next generation of relaxor ferroelectrics.

Computational approaches to point defect simulations for semiconductor solid solution alloys.

Despite their technological importance, studying the properties of alloys with first principles methods remains challenging. In cases of AlxGa1-xN and BaxSrx-1TiO3 (BST), whose most important properties are governed by point defects, explicit simulation can be a computationally demanding task due to the random occupation of Al and Ga on cation sites in AlGaN and Ba and Sr on A-sites in BST. In this work, interpolation between end member compounds is used as a first approximation to defect properties and concentrations in intermediate alloy compositions in lieu of explicit simulation. In AlGaN, the efficacy of Si and Ge as dopants for n-type Al-rich AlGaN is explored by considering self-compensating defects such as multi-donor vacancy complexes and Si and Ge DX configurations. In BST, variation of the high temperature defect chemistry of Mg and Fe is examined. The approach presented here is expected to be generally appropriate for first approximation of defect properties in semiconductors and dielectrics where the alloy is a random solid solution of the end members.