Compact ferroelectric domain-ensemble model linking PUND switching, wake-up, and plasmonic optical readout

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Ferroelectric materials exhibit unique electrical switching properties crucial for memory and logic devices.
• Understanding and predicting the complex dynamics, including wake-up effects and low-frequency behavior, is essential for device optimization.
• Integrating electrical and optical characteristics in a unified model remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive ferroelectric digital twin that integrates electrical switching, long-term wake-up phenomena, and plasmon-enhanced optical readout.
• To establish a single framework capable of predicting device-level ferroelectric dynamics and their optical signatures from electrical calibration.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using optical signals as an alternative readout method for ferroelectric devices.

Main Methods:

• Representing the ferroelectric layer as an ensemble of bistable domains with Weibull-distributed energy barriers.
• Incorporating Rayleigh-type nonlinear background, series capacitance, and ohmic leakage for macroscopic response modeling.
• Calibrating static parameters to PUND data and introducing frequency-dependent leakage and a stretched-exponential law for wake-up dynamics.

Main Results:

• The digital twin accurately reproduces switching-current waveforms and P-V branches with consistent ferroelectric parameters (Ps, Pr, Ec).
• The model accounts for increased apparent polarization at low frequencies and describes wake-up over 10^3 cycles.
• Simulated polarization coupled to a plasmonic cavity yields realistic wavelength-resolved modulation without additional optical fitting.

Conclusions:

• A single electrical calibration of the ferroelectric digital twin is sufficient to predict full device-level dynamics and plasmonic signatures.
• The developed framework provides a novel pathway for optical readout in ferroelectric devices, complementing traditional electrical methods.
• This unified approach enhances the understanding and design of advanced ferroelectric-based systems.