Ferroelectric materials, microelectronics

Recently, ferroelectric materials, especially in thin film form, have attracted the attention of many researchers. Their large dielectric constants make them suitable as dielectric layers of microcapacitors in microelectronics. They are also investigated for application in nonvolatile memory using the switchable dielectric polarization of ferroelectric material. To characterize such ferroelectric materials, a high-resolution tool is required for observing the microscopic distribution of remanent (or spontaneous) polarization of ferroelectric materials. 

Ferroelectric materials have numerous microelectronics applications, including capacitors (7,2), nonvolatile memory devices (2-4 electrooptic devices 1,4) and many others (5). The ferroelectrics described in this paper are Pb(ZrxTii x)03 (PZT), BaTi03, and YMn03. Here we investigate the use of a photochemical method for the direct deposition of these complex materials. 

Also surface optical properties of a material sometimes need to be changed, for example in making anti-reflection coating for lenses or reflective surfaces for CDs, the magnetic properties may need to be influenced as in the case of giving a ferroelectric surface to a plastic for magnetic recording, and, perhaps most extensively of all, the surface electrical properties need to be controlled in microelectronic devices used in computers and all modern electronic equipment. 

Ferroelectric and dielectric materials comprise Volume 4. This volume contains reviews on pyroelectricity the fundamentals and applications, crystal growth, characterization and domain studies in lithium niobate and lithium tantalate ferroelectrics, bismuth vanadate, the electric field influence on acoustic waves, dielectric ceramics, and low dielectric constant materials for microelectronics interconnects. 

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