A negative electrocaloric effect in an antiferroelectric zirconium dioxide thin film

Abstract

A large negative electrocaloric effect is demonstrated in an antiferroelectric ZrO₂ thin film with 8 nm thickness deposited by atomic layer deposition. An adiabatic temperature change as high as ΔT = −31 K is obtained for an electric field change of ΔE = 3.45 MV cm⁻¹ at an ambient temperature of 413 K. Moreover, the ZrO₂ thin film shows enhanced stability as demonstrated by endurance and Preisach density maps. Due to its high phase transition temperature, high thermal stability, high scalability and full CMOS compatibility, ZrO₂ is proposed as a promising candidate for future multilayer electrocaloric and solid-state cooling devices.