A model for optical and electrical polarization fatigue in SrBi₂Ta₂O₉, and Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃

We find that significant polarization fatigue (> 90%) can be induced in SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (SET) thin films using (a) broad-band optical illumination combined with a bias near the switching threshold and (b) electric field cycling under broadband optical illumination. In the latter case, the extent of polarization fatigue increases with decreasing cycling voltage. In either case, the optically fatigued SET capacitors can be fully rejuvenated by applying a saturating dc bias with light or by electric field cycling without light, which suggests a field-assisted recovery mechanism. A similar behavior was observed in Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) films with LSCO electrodes. Based on these results, we suggest that polarization fatigue in ferroelectrics is essentially a dynamic competition between domain wall pinning due to electronic charge trapping, and field-assisted unpinning of the domain walls. Thus, domain wall pinning is not necessarily absent in nominally fatigue-free systems. Instead, these systems are ones in which domain wall unpinning occurs at least as rapidly as any pinning. Factors which may affect the pinning and unpinning rates will be discussed.