Piezoelectric Effect, Piezotronics and Piezophototronics: A Review
Piezoelectricity, a phenomenon known for centuries, is an effect that is about the production of electrical potential in a substance as the pressure on it changes. Due to the polarization of ions in a crystal that has non central symmetry, a piezoelectric potential (piezopotential) is created in the crystal by applying a stress. For materials such as ZnO, GaN, and InN in the wurtzite structure family, the effect of piezopotential on the transport behavior of charge carriers is significant due to their multiple functionalities of piezoelectricity, semiconductor and photon excitation. In this article a brief review about piezoelectric effect, piezotronics and piezophototronics are discussed.