Effect of external fields on the switching current in PZT ferroelectric ceramics

✍ Scribed by Heng Chang Nie; Xue Feng Chen; Ning Bo Feng; Gen Shui Wang; Xian Lin Dong; Yan Gu; Hong Liang He; Yu Sheng Liu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 953 KB
• Volume: 150
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-1098
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssc.2009.09.042

✦ Synopsis

The dependence of a switching current in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric ceramics on the temperature and an applied electrical field was investigated. It was found that temperature has a moderate contribution to the switching current values, but applied electric fields have significant effects on the values. Importantly, a relaxation of switching current on frequency was observed through this method. By a comparison investigation on PZT ceramics of different compositions non-180 • domain switching was found to be responsible for the relaxation. A function, the 'active potential of domains' was proposed to interpret the observed results from the viewpoint of energy. The results obtained provide a new understanding of domain process in ferroelectric ceramics that relaxation of domains is a collective motion of non-180 • domains.