Giant Electroresistance in Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions

Authors

Mikhail Ye Zhuravlev, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Renat F. Sabirianov, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Sitaram Jaswal, University of NebraskaFollow
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

6-24-2005

Comments

Published in Physical Review Letters 94, 246802 (2005). URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v94/e246802 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.246802 Copyright 2005 American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

The interplay between the electron transport in metal-ferroelectric-metal junctions with ultrathin ferroelectric barriers and the polarization state of a barrier is investigated. Using a model which takes into account screening of polarization charges in metallic electrodes and direct quantum tunneling across a ferroelectric barrier, we calculate the change in the tunneling conductance associated with the polarization switching. We find the conductance change of a few orders of magnitude for metallic electrodes with significantly different screening lengths. This giant electroresistance effect is the consequence of a different potential profile seen by transport electrons for the two opposite polarization orientations.