Proper application of segmented dielectric thin films can be effective in companies and factories that develop sensors for automobiles, ultrasonic devices, and military devices. Scientists at Southern Federal University have better technology than their foreign counterparts.
One project that is being developed today by scientists at the Southern Federal University Research Institute of Physics in collaboration with the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the support of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation is 'Heterostructures Based on Lead-Free Segmented Materials with the Structure of Tetragonal Tungsten Bronze: Synthesis and Growth Features, Phase States and Phase Transformations, Physical Properties.
As part of this grant, a team of scientists led by lead researcher Anatoly Pavlenko is developing new materials in the nanoscale state, mainly in the form of thin films. According to the researcher, the direction was chosen because of the great prospects for the application of these materials in modern technology.
"In recent years we have been studying mainly the properties of strontium barium niobate (SBN) thin films of various compositions and bismuth ferrite multiferroics. We have shown for the first time how they can be obtained in high quality by a single-step growth method and how their thickness affects their structure and physical properties. Interesting were experiments in the study of two-layer structures, when we showed that you can control the individual properties of these heterostructures simply by alternating the layers, which is convenient in practical applications," - said a leading researcher at the Research Institute of Physics South Federal University Anatoly Pavlenko.
They say segmentelectrics and multiferroics are active materials which can transform, for example, mechanical action into an electrical signal and vice versa. This makes them suitable for use, for example, in sensors in cars, ultrasound devices, military devices and so on. However, the desire to miniaturise these components has led to a demand for these materials in the form of thin films - ranging in size from units to hundreds of nanometres.
"It turned out that when these materials are made as thin films, their properties can change catastrophically, and this is quite difficult to predict. We are just doing this kind of research for a number of materials," said Anatoly Pavlenko. Investigations in this area are only being conducted for eight months, but we have already managed to develop a single-stage technology for obtaining multiferroic of chemical composition BaNdFeNbO on MgO substrates with segmentelectric properties better than those of foreign colleagues.
"The most important value of our research, from my point of view, is that we are mainly based on Russian-made approaches and element base, ensuring development of materials with characteristics equal or ahead of world analogues," the specialist added.
During 2021, scientists at the SFU Institute of Physics have published about 10 papers on the project in scientific journals such as the Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Inorganic Materialsthis link is disabled, and Physics of the Solid Statethis link is disabled. The latest results are published in the Journal of Alloys and Compoundsthis. Active work on the project continues and new results will be published very soon.