Electric polarization switching in an atomically thin binary rock salt structure



Martinez-Castro, Jose, Piantek, Marten, Schubert, Sonja, Persson, Mats ORCID: 0000-0002-1443-9490, Serrate, David and Hirjibehedin, Cyrus F
(2018) Electric polarization switching in an atomically thin binary rock salt structure. NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY, 13 (1). pp. 19-23.

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Abstract

Inducing and controlling electric dipoles is hindered in the ultrathin limit by the finite screening length of surface charges at metal–insulator junctions1,2,3, although this effect can be circumvented by specially designed interfaces4. Heterostructures of insulating materials hold great promise, as confirmed by perovskite oxide superlattices with compositional substitution to artificially break the structural inversion symmetry5,6,7,8. Bringing this concept to the ultrathin limit would substantially broaden the range of materials and functionalities that could be exploited in novel nanoscale device designs. Here, we report that non-zero electric polarization can be induced and reversed in a hysteretic manner in bilayers made of ultrathin insulators whose electric polarization cannot be switched individually. In particular, we explore the interface between ionic rock salt alkali halides such as NaCl or KBr and polar insulating Cu2N terminating bulk copper. The strong compositional asymmetry between the polar Cu2N and the vacuum gap breaks inversion symmetry in the alkali halide layer, inducing out-of-plane dipoles that are stabilized in one orientation (self-poling). The dipole orientation can be reversed by a critical electric field, producing sharp switching of the tunnel current passing through the junction.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: electronic properties and materials, ferroelectrics and multiferroics, information storage, surfaces, interfaces and thin films, two-dimensional materials
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 13 Nov 2017 10:27
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 06:50
DOI: 10.1038/s41565-017-0001-2
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3012054