Basic measurements for the characterization of ferroelectric devices

Ferroelectric materials show the hysteresis effect; in particular, with a zero field there are two equally stable states of polarization /spl plusmn/P/sub r/ allowing for the design of a binary-state device in the form of a ferroelectric capacitor (metal ferroelectric-metal) that can be reversed electrically. The characterization of ferroelectric devices consists of determining the hysteresis behavior and /spl plusmn/P/sub r/ quantities. Industrial equipment for producing this kind of characterization is expensive, and complex systems are needed for specific tasks. This paper proposes a low-cost tool for addressing the properties of ferroelectric devices, which is useful for qualitative investigation in research laboratories.