DEPLETION AND DEPOLARIZING EFFECTS IN FERROELECTRIC THIN-FILMS AND THEIR MANIFESTATIONS IN SWITCHING AND FATIGUE

The manifestations of semiconductor depletion and depolarizing effects in switching and fatigue are studied and compared. It is shown that t hese effects play important but quite different roles in switching. Th e depletion effect strongly influences the values of the coercive fiel d, E(c), and is responsible for its film-thickness dependence. The dep olarizing effect influences significantly other parameters of the hyst eresis loops. It is shown that the inverse thickness dependence of E(c ) can not be attributed to the presence of a non-switching layer. Cont ribution of the effects in question to fatigue of the loop parameters is discussed.