Pyroelectric applications, ferroelectric

The solids discussed in the remainder of this chapter have one thing in common They exhibit various polar effects, such as piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, and ferroelectricity. Piezoelectric crystals are those that become electrically polarized or undergo a change in polarization when subjected to a stress, as shown in Fig. 15.12c to /. The application of a compressive stress results in the flow of charge in one direction in the measuring circuit and in the opposite direction for tensile stresses. Conversely, the application of an electric field will stretch or compress the crystal depending on the orientation of the applied field to the polarization in the crystal. 

A number of other polymeric solids have also been the subject of much interest because of their special properties, such as polymers with high photoconductive efficiencies, polymers having nonlinear optical properties, and polymers with piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties. Many of these polymeric materials offer significant potential advantages over the traditional materials used for the same application, and in some cases applications not possible by other means have been achieved. 

The ferroelectricity, combined with excellent mechanical properties and the ease of fabrication, have rendered PVF2 a versatile material for piezoelectric and pyroelectric applications (transducer, stems, ultrasonics, loudspeakers, microphones, finger-press switches, ultrared detectors). Furthermore, PVF2 can be found in semiconductor applications and in the electrical-electronic market (plenum cables, aircraft wiring, computer... 

D. De Rossi and P. Dario. Biomedical applications of piezoelectric and pyroelectric potymen, Ferroelectrics 49 49 (1983). 

Ferroelectrics. Among the 32 crystal classes, 11 possess a centre of symmetry and are centrosymmetric and therefore do not possess polar properties. Of the 21 noncentrosymmetric classes, 20 of them exhibit electric polarity when subjected to a stress and are called piezoelectric one of the noncentrosymmetric classes (cubic 432) has other symmetry elements which combine to exclude piezoelectric character. Piezoelectric crystals obey a linear relationship P,- = gijFj between polarization P and force F, where is the piezoelectric coefficient. An inverse piezoelectric effect leads to mechanical deformation or strain under the influence of an electric field. Ten of the 20 piezoelectric classes possess a unique polar axis. In nonconducting crystals, a change in polarization can be observed by a change in temperature, and they are referred to as pyroelectric crystals. If the polarity of a pyroelectric crystal can be reversed by the application on an electric field, we call such a crystal a ferroelectric. A knowledge of the crystal class is therefore sufficient to establish the piezoelectric or the pyroelectric nature of a solid, but reversible polarization is a necessary condition for ferroelectricity. While all ferroelectric materials are also piezoelectric, the converse is not true for example, quartz is piezoelectric, but not ferroelectric. 

The electrical characterization of polar media is crucial to investigate their suitability for ferroelectric memories, piezo- or pyroelectric devices and many other ferroelectric applications (see Chapter 3). Optical characterization of polar media is fundamental to investigate their ser-vicability for electro-optic devices or applications in the field of nonlinear optics (see Chapter 4). Additionally there are intentions to characterize polar media with a combination of both, electrical and optical methods, such as to understand ferroelectric phenomena that are influenced by the action of light. 

New promising technologies for future electron-beam lithography applications based on pyroelectrically induced electron emission from LiNbOs ferroelectrics [22] were recently proposed [23], The developed system possessing micrometer scale resolution used 1 1 electron beam projection. The needed electron pattern was obtained by means of deposited micrometer-size Ti-spots on the polar face of LiNbOs. Another solution for the high resolution electron lithography may be found in nanodomain patterning of a ferroelectric template. 

Because a ceramic is composed of a large number of randomly oriented crystallites it would normally be expected to be isotropic in its properties. The possibility of altering the direction of the polarization in the crystallites of a ferroelectric ceramic (a process called poling ) makes it capable of piezoelectric, pyroelectric and electro-optic behaviour. The poling process - the application of a static electric field under appropriate conditions of temperature and time -aligns the polar axis as near to the field direction as the local environment and the crystal structure allow. 

The contribution E(ds/dT) (Eq. (7.3)) can be made by all dielectrics, whether polar or not, but since the temperature coefficients of permittivity of ferroelectric materials are high, in their case the effect can be comparable in magnitude with the true pyroelectric effect. This is also the case above the Curie point and where, because of the absence of domains, the dielectric losses of ferroelectrics are reduced, which is important in some applications. However, the provision of a very stable biasing field is not always convenient. 

In ferroelectrics the major contributor to tan 3 is domain wall movement which diminishes as the amplitude of the applied field diminishes the value applicable to pyroelectric detectors will be that for very small fields. The permittivity is also very sensitive to bias field strength, as is its temperature coefficient. The properties of some ferroelectrics - the relaxors - are also frequency dependent. It is important, therefore, to ensure that when assessing the suitability of a ferroelectric for a particular application on the basis of measured properties that the measurements have been made using values of the parameters (frequency, field strength etc.) appropriate to the application. This is not always done. 

Electret materials are meanwhile used in a large number of modern high-tech applications including microphones, acoustic sensors, transducers, radiation and pollution dosimeters, power generators, filters, and many more. Additionally, electret technology is of great interest in the field of biomaterials, for instance in callus formation and wound healing [10, 11], When used in cellular or in multilayer sandwich structures, polymer electrets can exhibit piezoelectricity. Such materials are ferroelectrets, as they show typical features of ferroelectric materials such as piezo-and pyroelectricity [12-17],... 

Table 27.5 lists applications of some of the most commercially important mixed metal, perovskite-t5q)e oxides, and illustrates that it is the dielectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric (see Section 13.9) and pyroelectric properties of these materials that are exploited in the electronics industry. 

Pyroelectric crystals are ones that are spontaneously polarizable (see below) and in which a change in temperature produces a change in that spontaneous polarization. A limited number of pyroelectric crystals have the additional property that the direction of spontaneous polarization can be reversed by application of an electric field, in which case they are known as ferroelectrics. Thus a ferroelectric is a spontaneously polarized material with reversible polarization. Before proceeding much further it is important to appreciate that not all crystal classes can exhibit polar effect. 

Chemical and physical processing techniques for ferroelectric thin films have undergone explosive advancement in the past few years (see Ref. 1, for example). The use of PZT (PbZri- cTi c03) family ferroelectrics in the nonvolatile and dynamic random access memory applications present potentially large markets [2]. Other thin-film devices based on a wide variety of ferroelectrics have also been explored. These include multilayer thin-film capacitors [3], piezoelectric or electroacoustic transducer and piezoelectric actuators [4-6], piezoelectric ultrasonic micromotors [7], high-frequency surface acoustic devices [8,9], pyroelectric intrared (IR) detectors [10-12], ferroelectric/photoconduc-tive displays [13], electrooptic waveguide devices or optical modulators [14], and ferroelectric gate and metal/insulator/semiconductor transistor (MIST) devices [15,16]. 

Pyro- and Piezoelectric Properties The electric field application on a ferroelectric nanoceramic/polymer composite creates a macroscopic polarization in the sample, responsible for the piezo- and pyroelectricity of the composite. It is possible to induce ferroelectric behavior in an inert matrix [Huang et al., 2004] or to improve the piezo-and pyroelectricity of polymers. Lam and Chan [2005] studied the influence of lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT) particles on the ferroelectric properties of a PVDF-TrFE matrix. The piezoelectric and pyroelectric coefficients were measured in the electrical field direction. The Curie point of PVDF-TrFE and PMN-PT is around 105 and 120°C, respectively. Different polarization procedures are possible. As the signs of piezoelectric coefficients of ceramic and copolymer are opposite, the poling conditions modify the piezoelectric properties of the sample. In all cases, the increase in the longitudinal piezoelectric strain coefficient, 33, with ceramic phase poled) at < / = 0.4, the piezoelectric coefficient increases up to 15 pC/N. The decrease in da for parallel polarization is due primarily to the increase in piezoelectric activity of the ceramic phase with the volume fraction of PMN-PT. The maximum piezoelectric coefficient was obtained for antiparallel polarization, and at < / = 0.4 of PMN-PT, it reached 30pC/N. 

---