{"689049":{"#nid":"689049","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Marshall B. Frye","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMarshall B. Frye\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAdvisor: Professor Lauren M. Garten\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003Ewill defend a doctoral thesis entitled,\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EEngineering Polar Order and Switching via Interface and Defect Design in Emerging Ferroelectric Materials\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOn\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EWednesday, April 1, 2026\u003Cbr\u003E3:00 pm - 5:00 pm\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EPrice Gilbert 4222\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Tech Library Dissertation Defense Room\u003Cbr\u003Eor virtually via Zoom:\u003Cbr\u003EZoom link\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommittee\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Prof. Lauren M. Garten \u2013 School of Materials Science and Engineering (advisor)\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Prof. Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena \u2013 School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Prof. Eric Vogel \u2013 School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Prof. Antonio Facchetti \u2013 School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Prof. Thomas Beechem \u2013 School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAbstract\u003Cbr\u003EAs device thickness is reduced, interfaces and defects increasingly come to dominate over bulk properties. In ferroelectric materials, these effects have historically been detrimental, leading to critical thickness and performance limits that hinder commercial applications. This dissertation develops a unified framework in which interfaces and defects act as tunable parameters governing ferroelectric behavior, enabling the stabilization, modulation, and enhancement of ferroelectricity across diverse material systems. By combining innovative deposition strategies with advanced characterization, we develop scalable routes to synthesize two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric chalcogenides and uncover interfacial mechanisms that stabilize and modulate polar order in complex oxide systems. Together, these results demonstrate how engineered interfacial structure and defect states can induce, control, and enhance ferroelectric behavior to enable next-generation logic, memory, and optoelectronic devices.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;In SnSe, we identify thickness-dependent structural transitions, polar stacking faults, and a tunable band gap. We then develop a mirror-rastering pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method for wafer-scale, continuous films. The highly energetic particles from PLD enable the stabilization of nonequilibrium polar stacking faults, which are confirmed by microscopy and spectroscopy methods. With these films, we demonstrate the first reported bulk ferroelectric measurements in SnSe, confirming ferroelectric switching.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Extending the role of interfaces and defects to complex oxides, we reveal that an iron oxide interlayer stabilizes P63cm ScFeO3 (h-ScFeO3) on insulating substrates. Using this interlayer, we expand the device compatibility of h-ScFeO3 by stabilizing the phase on metal electrodes for the first time via interlayer epitaxy and show that strain relaxation from the interlayer surpasses limits in improper ferroelectrics, enabling polar distortion at the first layer.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Finally, we show that defect states at an Al2O3\u2013Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 interface enhance the coercive field by 3\u00d7 and increase the memory window. Through phase-field modeling and polarization-dependent spectroscopy, a defect-dependent tunneling mechanism is discovered that governs ferroelectric switching in these nanoscale devices. Collectively, this work establishes interface and defect engineering as powerful, general tools for stabilizing ferroelectric phases and tuning functionality across diverse materials platforms.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEngineering Polar Order and Switching via Interface and Defect Design in Emerging Ferroelectric Materials\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Engineering Polar Order and Switching via Interface and Defect Design in Emerging Ferroelectric Materials"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-03-19 15:41:10","changed_gmt":"2026-03-19 15:42:55","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-04-01T15:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-04-01T17:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-04-01T17:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-04-01 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-04-01 21:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-04-01 21:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Price Gilbert 4222 Georgia Tech Library Dissertation Defense Room or virtually via Zoom","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}