Multiferroic BiFeO3 and its Applications

Junling Wang, Associate Professor

School of Materials Science and Engineering

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798 

Multiferroics, defined as materials that possess at least two of the ferroic (electric, magnetic and elastic) properties simultaneously, have attracted tremendous attention. Among them, materials that show both ferroelectricity and magnetic order are of particular importance, because of the possibility of controlling magnetism with electric field. They can be used in spintronic devices and high density non-volatile memories.

As the only room temperature multiferroic material, BiFeO3 has been the focus of this field. In this talk, I will introduce the basic properties of BiFeO3 and how to apply its unique properties for non-volatile memories. Topics that will be covered include (1) exchange coupling in (La,Sr)MnO3/BiFeO3 heterostructures and electric-field control of magnetization; and (2) BiFeO3 based non-volatile memories.