Temperature-dependent leakage mechanisms of BiFeO3 films

Epitaxial c-axis oriented BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films were deposited on conductive SrRuO3 (SRO) on (001) SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A Pt/BFO/SRO capacitor was constructed by depositing a top Pt electrode. The leakage current density vs. electric field characteristics were investigated from 80 to 350 K. It was found that the leakage mechanisms were a strong function of temperature and voltage polarity. At temperatures between 80 and 150 K, space-charge-limited current was the dominant leakage mechanism for both negative and positive bias. On the other hand, at temperatures between 200 and 350 K the dominant leakage mechanisms were Poole-Frenkle emission and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling for negative and positive bias, respectively.