Regular Article

Hybrid-improper ferroelectric behavior in Ba₃SiO/Ba₃GeO oxide antiperovskite superlattices

¹ School of Physics, cimbios Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, 680002 Bucaramanga, Colombia
² School of Physics, ficomaco Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, 680002 Bucaramanga, Colombia

^a e-mail: acgarcia@uis.edu.co

Received: 2 April 2019
Received in final form: 4 June 2019
Published online: 11 September 2019

Abstract

Here, we present a theoretical study of the hybrid-improper ferroelectric (HIF) behavior at the [001] (Ba₃SiO)₁/(Ba₃GeO)₁ superlattices. Then, by means of first-principles calculations, we have investigated the structural and vibrational modes that allows the existence of the trilinear coupling phenomenon in this antiperovskite oxide heterostructure. The latter coupling, leading to a ferroelectric character in this system. Finally, we show the xy biaxial strain influence into the structure and the ferroelectricity, achieving an enhancement of the spontaneous polarization through this control parameter.