The growth status of relaxor-based ferroelectric crystals and their development trends

Abstract

Our progress in the growth of ternary system Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PIMNT) crystals and reviews on the possible developing trends in the piezoelectric crystals are presented. Large PIMNT crystals with 3 inches in diameter have been grown by using a modified Bridgman method. Meanwhile, Mn-doped PIMNT crystals have also been obtained. PIMNT crystals exhibit Curie temperature Tc ~ 190°C, rhombohedral–tetragonal phase transition temperature Trt > 100°C and coercive field Ec ~ 5.0–7.0 kV/cm on (001) cuts. Meanwhile, higher piezoelectric constant d32 ~ -1500–2200 pC/N, d15 ~ 4000–6000 pC/N and coercive field Ec ~ 7.0–9.0 kV/cm have been achieved on (110) cuts. The development trends of relaxor-based ferroelectric crystals are suggested to grow novel crystals with high rhombohedral–tetragonal phase transition temperature Trt > 150 ~ 160°C and/or high coercive field Ec and mechanical quality factor Qm, to promote growth efficiency of PIMNT crystals and to create new growth methods fitting for the growth of metastable or instable crystals.

Keywords

• PIMNT crystals
• Bridgman technique
• piezoelectric properties
• relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals