A new type of semiconductor that can store information using electric fields may lead to more energy-efficient computers, ultra-precise sensors, and technologies that convert signals between electrical, optical, and acoustic forms. However, scientists had long been puzzled by how these materials could sustain two opposing electric polarizations without breaking apart.
A team of engineers at the University of Michigan has now uncovered why the materials, known as wurtzite ferroelectric nitrides, don’t tear themselves apart.
“The wurtzite ferroelectric nitrides were recently discovered and have a broad range of applications in memory electronics, RF (radio frequency) electronics, acousto-electronics, microelectromechanical systems, and quantum photonics, to name just a few. But the underlying mechanism of ferroelectric switching and charge compensation has remained elusive,” said Zetian Mi, the Pallab K. Bhattacharya Collegiate Professor of Engineering and co-corresponding author of the study published in Nature.
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