Improved breakdown strength and energy density of Al2O3/nano-ZrO2 composite films via enhanced interfacial repairing behavior

Taking Al as top electrode, a repairing layer with ultrahigh dielectric strength and resistivity was generated at the interface between sol-gel Al2O3 films and electrodes under the applied electric field. This repairing layer effectively restored the defects on the film surface and improved the dielectric strength. More importantly, it was found that adding ZrO2 nanoparticle into the matrix film could further enhance the dielectric strength, since the ZrO2 nanoparticle is conductive to forming the interfacial repairing layer. The analysis of ac conduction properties showed that the introduction of nano-ZrO2 resulted in a lower potential barrier and a longer hopping distance for ionic migration. In addition, the simulation result indicated that nano-ZrO2 addition induced a local region of high electric field that accelerated ionic migration. As a result of the two factors, the nanocomposite structure of Al2O3/nano-ZrO2 is capable to provide more ions for the formation of interfacial repairing layer. With the stronger repairing behavior, Al2O3/nano-ZrO2 composite films exhibited significantly enhanced breakdown strength of ~ 576 MV/m and energy density of 14.7 J/cm3, in contrast with 385 MV/m and 5.9 J/cm3 for pure Al2O3 films with Al electrodes.