Giant electrostriction-like response from defective non-ferroelectric epitaxial BaTiO3 integrated on Si (100)

Lead-free, silicon compatible materials showing large electromechanical responses comparable to, or better than conventional relaxor ferroelectrics, are desirable for various nanoelectromechanical devices and applications. Defect-engineered electrostriction has recently been gaining popularity to obtain enhanced electromechanical responses at sub 100 Hz frequencies. Here, we report record values of electrostrictive strain coefficients (M31) at frequencies as large as 5 kHz (1.04×10−14 m2/V2 at 1 kHz, and 3.87×10−15 m2/V2 at 5 kHz) using A-site and oxygen-deficient barium titanate thin-films, epitaxially integrated onto Si. The effect is robust and retained upon cycling upto 6 million times. Our perovskite films are non-ferroelectric, exhibit a different symmetry compared to stoichiometric BaTiO3 and are characterized by twin boundaries and nano polar-like regions. We show that the dielectric relaxation arising from the defect-induced features correlates well with the observed giant electrostriction-like response. These films show large coefficient of thermal expansion (2.36 × 10−5/K), which along with the giant M31 implies a considerable increase in the lattice anharmonicity induced by the defects. Our work provides a crucial step forward towards formulating guidelines to engineer large electromechanical responses even at higher frequencies in lead-free thin films.