Surface effects and ferroelectric phase transitions in BaTiO3 ultrathin films

S. TINTE; M. G. STACHIOTTI

PHYSICAL REVIEW B

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2001 vol. 64 p. 235403 - 235409

1098-0121

We present a finite-temperature study of ferroelectric phase transitions in BaTiO3 ultrathin films using an atomic-level simulation approach. This is based on a shell model for BaTiO3 with parameters obtained from first-principles calculations. While transitions involving in-plane electric polarization are practically unperturbed by the presence of the surface, surface atomic relaxations act as a strong perturbation on the ferroelectric order perpendicular to the surface. However, a strain induced ferroelectric polydomain phase with an out-of-plane orientation of polarization is stabilized in a not short-circuited film as thin as 20 Å. A reduction of the out-of-plane polarization at the film surface is observed.