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The Origin Of Electrical Activity At Grain Boundaries In Perovskites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Miyoung Kim
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831-6030 Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL60607
N. D. Browning
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL60607
S. J. Pennycook
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831-6030 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
K. Sohlberg
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831-6030
S. T. Pantelides
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831-6030 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
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Extract

The electrical activity of grain boundaries in perovskites, of which SrTiO3 is a model system, is the basis for their use as capacitors, varistors and positive-temperature coefficient resistors. In related materials this same electrical activity is often detrimental. The outstanding example of a negative effect is the reduction in critical current by several orders of magnitude across grain boundaries in YBa2CU3O7-δ as the boundary misorientation is increased from 0°-45°. Grain boundaries are also likely to profoundly affect properties such as domain wall motion in ferroelectric and magnetic perovskites. The origin of the electrical activity is ubiquitously attributed to the existence of grain boundary donors, usually assumed to be impurities, which set up a double Schottky barrier as they are screened by dopants in the adjacent bulk crystal. We show here, that although electrical barriers can doubtless be modified by dopants, the grain boundary structure itself is the intrinsic origin of the socalled grain boundary donors.

Type
Atomic Structure And Microchemistry Of Interfaces
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

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4.This research was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences, USDOE, under contract DEAC05-96OR22464, by NSF under grant no. DMR-9803021, NSF under grant DMR-9803768.Google Scholar