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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Characterization of Full Set Material Constants and Their Temperature Dependence for Piezoelectric Materials Using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy
Published on: April 27, 2016
Giant piezoelectric resistance in ferroelectric tunnel junctions
1Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China. yuezheng@hit.edu.cn
Abstract:
The effect of an applied mechanical stress on the tunneling conductance of a ferroelectric tunnel barrier between substrates and dissimilar electrodes is studied. Using a thermodynamic model and taking into account polarization charge screening in the electrodes and the near-surface inhomogeneous polarization distribution, the tunneling conductance is calculated as a function of the applied stress. It is found that reversing an applied stress can also change the tunnel barrier sufficiently to produce an effect similar to the giant electro-resistance one due to polarization reversal, which is particularly significant near the stress-dependent paraelectric/ferroelectric phase transition. Indeed, the sensitivity is adequate for high-sensitivity electronic and mechanical sensors, memories and other nanodevices.
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