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In this work, we report on the variability of the Schottky effect in solution processed Ba1-xSrxTiO3 films (BST, x = 0, 0.5) grown on 0.5% Nb doped SrTiO3 substrates with top Pt electrodes (NSTO/BST/Pt). The films display leakage currents accompanied by varying degrees of hystereses in the current-voltage measurements. The magnitude of the leakage and hystereses depend on the Sr content. We focus on the current-voltage (I-V) behavior of our samples in the light of thermodynamic theory of ferroelectrics coupled with equations of semiconductors. Our calculations allowed us to unambigously determine the electronic character of the defects and related band bending effects in our samples. The extent of asymmetry and the hystereses in the I-V curves for x = 0 and 0.5 are shown to be controlled by the polarization in qualitative agreement with our calculations. Amplitude of the ferroelectric polarization, which is a function of composition here, has a strong impact on leakage currents in forward bias while this effect is much weaker under negative bias. The latter occurs as polarization pointing away from the NSTO semiconducting substrate causes depletion of carriers at the NSTO side of the NSTO/BST interface, increasing resistance to current flow through the stack. Such an occurence also increases the energy gap between the Fermi level and the conduction bands of the films, thereby reducing the bulk conduction through the film as well. The dependence of leakage currents on polarization direction points out to the possibility of a non-destructive read-out route in ferroelectric films much thicker than tunnel junctions.

Un-doped ZnO (UDZO) and Li-doped ZnO (LZO) polycrystalline thin films were grown on platinized silicon by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The electrical properties were investigated on as-grown and annealed UDZO and LZO films with capacitor configuration, using top and bottom platinum electrodes. In the case of the as-grown films it was found that the introduction of Li increases the resistivity of ZnO and induces butterfly shape in the C-V characteristic, suggesting ferroelectric-like behavior in LZO films. The properties of LZO samples does not significantly changes after thermal annealing while the properties of UDZO samples show significant changes upon annealing, manifested in a butterfly shape of the C-V characteristic and resistive-like switching. However, the butterfly shape disappears if long delay time is used in the C-V measurement, the characteristic remaining non-linear. Pyroelectric signal could be measured only on annealed films. Comparing the UDZO results with those obtained in the case of Li:ZnO, it was found that the pyroelectric properties are considerably enhanced by Li doping, leading to pyroelectric signal with about one order of magnitude larger at low modulation frequencies than for un-doped samples. Although the results of this study hint towards a ferroelectric-like behavior of Li doped ZnO, the presence of real ferroelectricity in this material remains controversial.

Perovskite complex ceramic oxides, BaTiO 3 doped with 0.5 mol%Nb 2 O 5 and then nanocoated with SiO 2 (abbreviated as BT-Nb 0.005 /SiO 2 ) was successful prepared using conventional sol–gel processing. Phase composition, particle morphology, structure, and electric properties of BT-Nb 0.005 core and BT-Nb 0.005 /SiO 2 core–shell were examined and compared, using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and, dielectric and ferroelectric measurements. Core–shell composite with well-defined perovskite tetragonal phase of BaTiO 3 was achieved. Furthermore, single crystalline BT-Nb 0.005 /SiO 2 core–nanoshell heterostructure with ∼34 nm shell thick was prepared, which is a novelty in ferroelectrics field. The ferroelectric quality of BT-Nb 0.005 has suffered an alteration when the (BT-Nb 0.005 )/SiO 2 core–shell heterostructure was realized. One-dimensional BT-Nb 0.005 /SiO 2 core–shell heterostructure exhibits an improvement of dielectric losses and a decrease of dielectric constant, compared to uncoated BT-Nb 0.005 . The (BT-Nb 0.005 )/SiO 2 core–shell material could be interesting for application in the composite capacitors.