  Cubic structure is one of the most commonly found structures for oxides at
high temperature. As the temperature is lowered only a handful of these oxides
exhibit ferroelectricity which is rather surprising. In this paper, we use the
example of YCrO3 (YCO), an incipient ferroelectric material to show that in
most oxides there are two competing phenomenon -onset of ferroelectricity due
to rotation of CrO6 octahedra and displacement of Y atom leading to suppression
of ferroelectricity. This competition reveals that while the octahedral
rotations favor a lower symmetry state, the Y atom displacement opposes it
leaving YCO to exhibit only an incipient ferroelectric state. These results
while being in agreement with the earlier theoretical predictions can also help
suggest a pathway to a more stable ferroelectric state in these oxides by using
a larger cationic substitution at the Y site.
