Abstract

Professor V.R. Palkar will provide a brief introduction to multiferroics and their importance in a variety of sensor and wireless applications. For low-power and high-sensitivity cantilever sensors, her group recently invented a novel multiferroic system (modified BiFeO3) that not only exhibits piezoelectric, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature but also exhibits significant coupling between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order parameters in bulk as well as in pulsed laser deposited thin films.

Additionally, Professor Palkar will show some of the interesting and remarkable results that confirm the multiferroic behavior and presence of the coupling in thin films even at microscopic level. Most importantly, realization of Si compatible MEMS device structure (cantilever) using modified BiFeO3 multiferroic thin films and their functioning will be discussed.

Biosketch

Prof. Palkar received her MS and PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), University of Bombay. She served on the faculty at the TIFR for four decades before joining the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at IIT Bombay. Her research interests include piezoelectric and multiferroic MEMS devices and functional nanooxides. She has more than 165 publications and 3 patents, and coauthored 3 book chapters and review articles in these areas. Her work has received several awards and recognitions including the TSMC Outstanding Researcher Award in 2008.