From Berkeley Lab: “Ferroelectricity on the Nanoscale”
July 10, 2012
Lynn Yarris
“Promising news for those who relish the prospects of a one-inch chip storing multiple terabytes of data, some clarity has been brought to the here-to-fore confusing physics of ferroelectric nanomaterials. A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has provided the first atomic-scale insights into the ferroelectric properties of nanocrystals. This information will be critical for development of the next generation of nonvolatile data storage devices.
Atomic-resolution images of germanium telluride nanoparticles from Berkeley Lab’s TEAM I electron microscope, and electron holographic images of barium titanate nanoparticles (below) from BNL yielded the first detailed experimental information on ferroelectric order at the nanoscale.
‘As we scale down our device technology from the microscale to the nanoscale, we need a better understanding of how critical material properties, such as ferroelectric behavior, are impacted, says Paul Alivisatos, director of Berkeley Lab and one of the principal investigators in this research. ‘Our results provide a pathway to unraveling the fundamental physics of nanoscale ferroelectricity at the smallest possible size scales.’”
See the full article here.
A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Operated by the University of California
