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Ceramics Laboratory LC
Welcome to the Ceramics Laboratory
Research and education at our laboratory are centered on science and technology of functional ceramics. In the focus are piezoelectrics and ferroelectrics, polar materials, paraelectrics, high-K dielectrics, ferromagnetics, and ferroelastics. Other materials, e.g. ionically conductive ceramics are investigated too. Within the field of functional ceramics, we are interested in fundamental mechanisms, theory and modeling, processing and fabrication, structural and functional properties, device design, fabrication and testing.
We identify and aim to clarify fundamental questions that are potential drivers of novel electroceramic-technology and its applications in areas relevant to our society needs. An example of current interest is the study of the interfaces between the functional ceramic and the other sub-system, e.g. ferroelectric-metals, ferroelectrics-semiconductors, ferroelectrics-ferromagnetics. In another major direction we demonstrate / aim to demonstrate concepts for new applications of electroceramics in fields such as information and communication technologies, medical instrumentation and industrial process monitoring.
Key competences in the lab include processing science and technology of thin ceramic films, structural and functional analysis of electroceramics (experimental research in properties, be it local at the nanometer-scale or macroscopic properties, as well as modeling and theory), micro- and nano-fabrication science and technology of ceramics, and design, fabrication and testing of electroceramic components and microsystems, in particular sensors, actuators, various microelectronic components and high-frequency components.
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Nava Setter Awarded
Nava Setter is the 2011 Buessem Award Recipient. The award is given annually by the US Center for Dielectric Studies to a member of the dielectrics community with a lifetime of achievement in the field.
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Evgeny Mikheev Awarded
Evgeny Mikheev received the Award for the 2011 Best Master Project of the EPFL Materials Science and Engineering Program for his project "Magnetotransport in Ultrathin (Ga,Mn)As Channels Controlled by a Ferroelectric Gate".
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Congratulations to Evgeny Milyutin
Congratulations to Evgeny Milyutin for receiving a 2011 EPFL INNOGRANT aiming to support him in developing his company AZBOOKA which will provide online assistance of maths for school kids.
Distinctions
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Enhanced Electromechanical Response of Ferroelectrics Due to Charged Domain Walls
Tomas Sluka et al. demonstrated a new mechanism leading to a strong enhancement of piezoelectric properties. It clarifies the so-far unexplained effect of high domain-wall density on macroscopic properties of domain-engineered ferroelectrics.
doi:10.1038/ncomms1751 -
Macroscopic Theory of Charged Domain Walls in Ferroelectrics
Maxim Gureev successfully defended his thesis and was awarded the grade of PhD.
doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-5303 -
Cold-Field Switching in PVDF-TrFE Ferroelectric Polymer Nanomesas
A study of Igor Stolichnov et al. on ferroelectric nanomesas of PVDF suggests that there is no fundamental bar for lowering the coercive field in ferroelectric polymer nanostructures (of importance in micro- nanoelectronics).
Doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.027603
News
LC Seminars
Time: 08:45 – 09:45
Location: MXC-315
"Measurement of piezoelectric coefficients for energy harvesting application with interdigitated electrodes"
"Charged domain walls study in KNbO3 and BaTiO3 single crystals"
"Atomic force microscopy at the solid-liquid interface: gaining chemical information with sub-nanometer resolution"
"Ferroelastic properties of acceptor doped LaMO3 (M=Co,Mn,Fe)"
"Can we trust the temperature - misfit strain thin film phase diagrams?"
"Sc-doped AlN for wider bands in RF filter applications: Status of material and resonator properties"
"Conductivity of charged domain walls"
"Electric-field and proximity effects at oxide superconductor/ferroic interfaces"
"Bismuth-titanate revisited"
"Controlled formation of domains in ferroelectric thin films"
"Dislocations in oxide thin films: Effects and Engineering"
"On substrates, templates, processing conditions, and luck: Issues in PLD growth of epitaxial PZT thin films"
"Piezoelectricity at the vicinity of domain walls: reported experimental and theoretical results, own results, and future perspectives"
"Ferroelectric manipulation of ferromagnetism"
"PLD preparation and domain wall dynamics study of epitaxial PZ0.2T0.8 film"
"Investigations in the ferroelectric system PbNb2O6 - BiTiNbO6: Solid state synthesis and characterization"