EPSRC logo

Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/M007073/1
Title: Engineering Novel Functionalities in Ferroelectric Oxide Heterostructures
Principal Investigator: Zubko, Professor P
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: London Centre for Nanotechnology
Organisation: UCL
Scheme: First Grant - Revised 2009
Starts: 01 January 2015 Ends: 31 December 2016 Value (£): 99,843
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
23 Jul 2014 EPSRC Physical Sciences Materials - July 2014 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
As the semiconductor industry is approaching fundamental limits to further geometrical down-scaling of electronic components, research efforts are being increasingly diverted towards the search of new materials with new functionalities. One class of promising materials are the transition metal oxides, featuring exotic phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, metal-insulator transitions, unusual magnetism and ferroelectricity. Among these, ferroelectric oxides--those possessing a switchable spontaneous polarisation--deserve special attention as they have a long track record of successful application in a wide range of technologies including ferroelectric random access memories, piezoelectric sensors and actuators, thermal imaging and non-linear optics. The properties of these materials, however, change dramatically when their dimensions are reduced to the nanometre scale, posing many challenges for their application but also offering new opportunities for engineering novel functionalities. In this project we will use state-of-the-art artificially layered epitaxial superlattices composed of ultrathin ferroelectric and non-ferroelectric oxides as a model system to study the poorly understood phenomenon of negative capacitance that has been proposed as a method for enhancing the surface potential in field-effect devices and surpassing the power requirement limitations of conventional CMOS transistors. We will conduct a detailed and systematic experimental study of the negative capacitance effect in a range of artificially layered materials, quantifying the effect, determining the optimum parameters for its observation and establishing the temperature range over which it is active. This work will pave the way to future realisation of prototype field-effect devices utilising the negative capacitance for performance enhancement.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Summary
Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:  
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: