Far-From-Equilibrium Processing of Ferroelectric Thin Films on Glass and Polymeric Substrates

铁电材料是一种多功能材料，对外部的力、电、热等场具有很强的响应。随着器件的小型化和多功能化，铁电薄膜作为集成在微和纳机电系统中的用于致动和感测、非易失性存储器和能量收集的多功能手段变得越来越重要。然而，铁电薄膜通常需要高温处理步骤，与微电子部件制造不兼容，这是设备和控制单元完全小型化所需的。该奖项支持对一种新型的、远离平衡的加工方法的研究，该方法能够在聚合物和其他柔性基板上直接加工铁电材料。这种处理方法将使完全集成的、小型化的、多功能的传感器和致动器成为可能，在医疗保健领域具有广泛的应用（成像药丸，自供电植入传感器），汽车（振动能量采集供电的压力传感器、加速度计、热成像摄像机）、安全（毫米大小的自主机器人），柔性电子设备，以及高分辨率的保形，这项工作的首要目标是使铁电薄膜能够与CMOS兼容的柔性衬底直接集成，通过理解铁电薄膜的工艺-结构-性能关系，平衡处理条件这种处理方法（特别是脉冲热处理，PTP）允许在聚合物和柔性基底上直接结晶钙钛矿薄膜。预计在玻璃和聚合物基底上加工的这些电陶瓷膜中，由非常远离平衡的加工条件以及最小残余应力引起的大浓度缺陷将显著影响它们的最终功能响应。样品将通过化学溶液沉积合成，并通过PTP结晶。结构和微观结构表征将与薄膜的微观和宏观功能响应评估相结合。理解介观加工-结构-性质关系将使变革性的新器件应用成为可能，并为基本理解原子缺陷景观与这些功能材料的宏观响应的相关性铺平道路。

Ferroelectric materials are multifunctional materials exhibiting large response to external mechanical, electrical and thermal fields. As devices are driven towards miniaturization and multifunctionality, ferroelectric thin films become increasingly important as a multifunctional means for actuation and sensing, non-volatile memories, and energy harvesting, integrated within micro and nano-electromechanical systems. However, ferroelectric thin films typically require a high-temperature processing step, incompatible with microelectronic component fabrication, required for the full miniaturization of the device and control units. This award supports the investigation of a novel, far-from-equilibrium processing method, enabling direct processing of ferroelectric materials on polymer and other flexible substrates. This processing method will enable fully integrated, miniaturized, multifunctional sensors and actuators, with a wide range of applications in healthcare (imaging pills, self-powered implanted sensors), automotive (vibration energy harvesting powered pressure sensors, accelerometers, thermal cameras), security (mm-sized autonomous robots), flexible electronics, and high-resolution conformal, peel-and-stick sensors.The overarching goal of this work is to enable direct integration of ferroelectric thin films with CMOS-compatible and flexible substrates, through understanding of processing-structure-property relationships in ferroelectric thin films manufactured through far-from-equilibrium processing conditions. Such a processing method (specifically pulsed thermal processing, PTP) allows direct crystallization of perovskite thin films on polymeric and flexible substrates. It is expected that both the large concentration of defects arising from the very far-from-equilibrium processing conditions as well as minimal residual stresses in these electroceramic films processed on glass and polymeric substrates will significantly influence their ultimate functional response. The samples will be synthesized through chemical solution deposition and crystallized through PTP. Structural and microstructural characterization will be coupled with micro- and macroscopic functional response evaluation of the films. Understanding mesoscale processing-structure-property relationships will enable transformative new device applications, and pave the way for a fundamental understanding of the atomistic defect landscape correlation with the macroscopic response of these functional materials.