Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is a ferroelectric material used in many applications. In addition, since it has a simple crystal structure, it has an advantage that an artificial ceramic can be easily produced. However, Barium titanate (BaTiO3) has dielectr...
Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is a ferroelectric material used in many applications. In addition, since it has a simple crystal structure, it has an advantage that an artificial ceramic can be easily produced. However, Barium titanate (BaTiO3) has dielectric properties sensitive to thickness. It is known that as the thickness of BaTiO3 becomes thin, the ferroelectric polarization disappears due to its influence on the surface. The surface of BaTiO3 with perovskite structure generates an electric field opposite to the direction of dielectric polarization by the surface effect. This electric field makes it difficult to maintain the dielectric polarization and the ferroelectricity disappears. We adapted BaTiO3 slab structure with different thickness for the first principles calculation. Two termination of the surfaces (i.e. TiO2 and BaO surface) were considered. As the thickness of BaTiO3 decreased down to a few unit cell thickness, dielectric constant decrease rapidly. The surface structure of the thin BaTiO3 were analyzed and the decrease in the dielectric constant was attributed to surface structure.