Nature Communications (Jan 2024)

Low-temperature grapho-epitaxial La-substituted BiFeO3 on metallic perovskite

  • Sajid Husain,
  • Isaac Harris,
  • Guanhui Gao,
  • Xinyan Li,
  • Peter Meisenheimer,
  • Chuqiao Shi,
  • Pravin Kavle,
  • Chi Hun Choi,
  • Tae Yeon Kim,
  • Deokyoung Kang,
  • Piush Behera,
  • Didier Perrodin,
  • Hua Guo,
  • James M. Tour,
  • Yimo Han,
  • Lane W. Martin,
  • Zhi Yao,
  • Ramamoorthy Ramesh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44728-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract Bismuth ferrite has garnered considerable attention as a promising candidate for magnetoelectric spin-orbit coupled logic-in-memory. As model systems, epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films have typically been deposited at relatively high temperatures (650–800 °C), higher than allowed for direct integration with silicon-CMOS platforms. Here, we circumvent this problem by growing lanthanum-substituted BiFeO3 at 450 °C (which is reasonably compatible with silicon-CMOS integration) on epitaxial BaPb0.75Bi0.25O3 electrodes. Notwithstanding the large lattice mismatch between the La-BiFeO3, BaPb0.75Bi0.25O3, and SrTiO3 (001) substrates, all the layers in the heterostructures are well ordered with a [001] texture. Polarization mapping using atomic resolution STEM imaging and vector mapping established the short-range polarization ordering in the low temperature grown La-BiFeO3. Current-voltage, pulsed-switching, fatigue, and retention measurements follow the characteristic behavior of high-temperature grown La-BiFeO3, where SrRuO3 typically serves as the metallic electrode. These results provide a possible route for realizing epitaxial multiferroics on complex-oxide buffer layers at low temperatures and opens the door for potential silicon-CMOS integration.