Project Details
Projekt
Collaborative Research: DMREF: NSF: DFG: Incorporating Disorder and Defects in the Design of Ferroelectric Nitrides
Applicants
Dr.-Ing. Simon Fichtner; Professor Dr. Lorenz Kienle
Subject Area
Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565844296
Ferroelectric wurtzites, such as those based on AlN, have gained great interest from academia and industry, largely because of their potential to advance communication technologies and reduce energy consumption in computing. However, their deployment in commercial devices is hindered by a limited understanding of the impacts of defects on functional properties, particularly, synthesis-derived defects. Developing this understanding is essential for ensuring process scalability and reliability. The objective of the proposed work is to develop scientific knowledge and associated tools that will accelerate the deployment of these and future DMREF-developed materials. Our team consists of principal investigators who have already been pushing the scientific boundaries for wurzite-type ferroelectrics, alongside external collaborators with complementary funding from DOE EERE (Zakutayev, NREL), ARL (Drury, DEVCOM), and DFG (Fichtner and Kienle, Kiel University), as well as an industrial advisory board representing leading international companies in this field. This makes our team well-positioned to make scientific progress toward addressing technological needs with significant leverage. The proposed work will bridge the existing gap between calculations based on simplifying assumptions and real thin film materials grown via reactive sputtering. The rigorous mechanistic understanding developed will enable predictive capabilities around interacting (non-dilute) point defects, including hetero-valent substitutions. This research will advance quantitative predictions of coercive fields, multiscale switching dynamics, and potential degradation processes critical to future devices. Collaboration and student exchanges with external partners will be of tremendous value both to the science and to the scientific development of individual researchers.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
USA
