Realization of Non‐Equilibrium Wurtzite Structure in Heterovalent Ternary MgSiN<sub>2</sub> Film Grown by Reactive Sputtering
Abstract The piezoelectric and ferroelectric applications of heterovalent ternary materials are not well explored. Epitaxial MgSiN 2 films are grown at 600 °C on (111)Pt//(001)Al 2 O 3 substrates by the reactive sputtering method using metallic Mg and Si under the N 2 atmosphere. Detailed X‐ray diffraction measurements and transmission electron microscopy observations revealed that the epitaxially grown films on the substrates have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with c ‐axis out‐of‐plane orientation. The random occupation of this structure by Mg and Si differs from that of the previously reported structure in which these two cations periodically occupy the cationic sites. However, the lattice spacings closely approximate those that are previously reported, irrespective of the ordering, and they are almost comparable with those of (Al 0.8 Sc 0.2 )N. The wide bandgap of >5.0 eV in deposited MgSiN 2 is compatible with that of AlN and suggests durability against the application of strong external electric fields, possibly to induce polarization switching. In addition, MgSiN 2 is shown to have piezoelectric properties with an effective d 33 value of 2.3 pm V −1 for the first time. This work demonstrates the compositional expansion of hexagonal wurtzite to heterovalent ternary nitrides for novel piezoelectric materials, whose ferroelectricity is expected.
Authors
- Albert Suceava (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7661-9596)
- Venkatraman Gopalan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6866-3677)
- Shinnosuke Yasuoka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7557-0812)
- Yoshiomi Hiranaga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2429-7235)
- Hiroshi Funakubo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1106-200X)
- Hiroshi Uchida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5448-2987)
- Hidenori Hiramatsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5664-5831)
- Keisuke Ide (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2197-6611)
- Hiroko Yokota (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-9257)
- Akash Saha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2008-3612)
- K. Okamoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7952-8729)
- Kota Hanzawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0995-9360)
- Kei Shigematsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7762-9788)
- Masaki Azuma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8378-321X)
- P. Hsieh
- Sotaro Kageyama
- Sankalpa Harza
Institutions
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Sumitomo Chemical (Japan) (JP)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Kanagawa Industrial Technology Center (JP)
- Sophia University (JP)
- Institute of Science Tokyo (JP)
- Nagoya University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Electronic Materials
- Published
- 2025-02-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202400880
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.70
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Office of Science
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Japan Science and Technology Agency
- National Institute for Materials Science
- Division of Materials Research
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Energy Frontier Research Centers