Effect of electric field and post-treatment on dielectric behavior of SrTiO3 single crystal

The effect of dc electric field and post-treatment on the dielectric properties of SrTiO3 single crystals are reported. Both the dielectric constant and the loss tan delta decrease after post-treatment in flowing oxygen environment for 26 h at 1100 degrees C. The possible physical mechanism is briefly discussed. The dielectric behavior under dc electric field is measured. The rounded dielectric constant peak is induced by application of dc bias, and the corresponding dielectric loss is presented, which show more complicated behavior and usually are missing in the literature. In this work, it is found that the temperature (T-m) of the dielectric constant maximum shifts to higher temperatures with increasing dc electric field E, and follows the T(m)similar to E-2/3 relation, indicating an induced ferroelectric-like behavior with the second-order phase transition under dc bias. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)03708-7].