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Strong nonlinear current–voltage behaviour in perovskite-derivative calcium copper titanate

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 774–778 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The discovery of a giant dielectric constant1,2,3 of 105 in CaCu3Ti4O12 has increased interest in this perovskite-type oxide. Here we demonstrate that, in addition to high permittivity, CaCu3Ti4O12 has remarkably strong nonlinear current–voltage characteristics without the addition of any dopants. An intrinsic electrostatic barrier at the grain boundaries is responsible for the unusual nonlinear behaviour. The nonlinear coefficient of CaCu3Ti4O12 reaches a value of 900, which is even greater than that of the varistor material4 ZnO. As a result, CaCu3Ti4O12 may lead to efficient switching and gas-sensing devices.

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Figure 1: Current density–electric field (J–E) characteristics of sintered CaCu3Ti4O12.
Figure 2: Plot of current density against electric field.
Figure 3: Surface morphology with patterned gold electrodes, and I–V characteristics within single grains and across individual grain boundaries.
Figure 4: Surface topography and potential variations under a lateral bias (two- and three-dimensional).
Figure 5: TEM and selected area diffraction patterns.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. L. Shaw of MIT for discussion on the Kelvin probe force microscopy. This research was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, grant no. R05-2004-000-10168-0.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, 402-751, Korea

    Sung-Yoon Chung

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Il-Doo Kim

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea

    Suk-Joong L. Kang

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Correspondence to Sung-Yoon Chung.

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Chung, SY., Kim, ID. & Kang, SJ. Strong nonlinear current–voltage behaviour in perovskite-derivative calcium copper titanate. Nature Mater 3, 774–778 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1238

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