Physics Commons^™

Tunneling Electroresistance In Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions With A Composite Barrier, M. Ye. Zhuravlev, Yong Wang, S. Maekawa, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Tunneling electroresistance (TER) effect is the change in the electrical resistance of a ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) associated with polarization reversal in the ferroelectric barrier layer. Here we predict that a FTJ with a composite barrier that combines a functional ferroelectric film and a thin layer of a nonpolar dielectric can exhibit a significantly enhanced TER. Due to the change in the electrostatic potential with polarization reversal, the nonpolar dielectric barrier acts as a switch that changes its barrier height from a low to high value. The predicted values of TER are giant and indicate that the resistance of the …