Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 44
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-60909-9

Regular Article

Metal-ferroelectric-metal current-voltage characteristics: A charge flow balance through interfaces approach

National Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor str., nr. 105bis, P.O. Box MG7, 077125 Magurele, Romania

^a e-mail: lucian.filip@infim.ro

Received: 24 November 2015
Received in final form: 11 January 2016
Published online: 15 February 2016

Abstract

A model for current voltage characteristics of a thin film metal-ferroelectric-metal structure is constructed by combining the electrostatics of a polarized ferroelectric film with the balanced flow of charge through its interfaces. Using a set of fitting parameters, good agreement with several sets of experimental data is obtained for different system temperatures. The influence of model parameters on the current-voltage characteristic is discussed. Best fit values of some of these parameters correlate well with ab initio calculations in the literature, supporting the idea of low dielectric permittivity of the interface transition layers in the ferroelectric.