Lateral piezoelectric response across ferroelectric domain walls in thin films

Guyonnet, J.; Béa, H.; Paruch, P.

doi:doi:10.1063/1.3474953

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Correlation of electron backscatter diffraction and piezoresponse force microscopy for the nanoscale characterization of ferroelectric domains in polycrystalline lead zirconate titanate

The functional properties of ferroelectric ceramic bulk or thin film materials are strongly influenced by their nanostructure, crystallographic orientation, and structural geometry. In this paper, we show how, by combining textural analysis, through electron backscattered diffraction, with piezoresponse force microscopy, quantitative measurements of the piezoelectric properties can be made at a scale of 25 nm, smaller than the domain size. The combined technique is used to obtain data on the do...

Drive frequency dependent phase imaging in piezoresponse force microscopy

The drive frequency dependent piezoresponse (PR) phase signal in near-stoichiometric lithium niobate crystals is studied by piezoresponse force microscopy. It is clearly shown that the local and nonlocal electrostatic forces have a great contribution to the PR phase signal. The significant PR phase difference of the antiparallel domains are observed at the contact resonances, which is related to the electrostatic dominated electromechanical interactions of the cantilever and tip-sample system. ...

In purely c-axis oriented PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ ferroelectric thin films, a lateral piezoresponse force microscopy signal is observed at the position of 180° domain walls, where the out-of-plane oriented polarization is reversed. Using electric force microscopy measurements we exclude electrostatic effects as the origin of this signal. Moreover, our mechanical simulations of the tip/cantilever system show that the small tilt of the surface at the domain wall below the tip does not satisfactorily explain the observed signal either. We thus attribute this lateral piezoresponse at domain walls to their sideways motion (shear) under the applied electric field. From simple elastic considerations and the conservation of volume of the unit cell, we would expect a similar lateral signal more generally in other ferroelectric materials, and for all types of domain walls in which the out-of-plane component of the polarization is reversed through the domain wall. We show that in BiFeO₃ thin films, with 180°, 109°, and 71° domain walls, this is indeed the case.

Article Outline

INTRODUCTION
METHODS
1. Growth
2. PFM measurements
3. EFM measurements
4. Simulations
LATERAL PFM AT DOMAIN WALLS
CONTRIBUTION FROM ELECTROSTATIC FORCES
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM VERTICAL SURFACE DEFORMATIONS AND ROUGHNESS
SHEAR SIGNAL AT DOMAIN WALLS
OTHER TYPES OF MATERIALS AND DOMAIN WALLS
1. BFO 111
2. BFO 001
CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

electric domain walls, ferroelectric ceramics, ferroelectric thin films, lead compounds, piezoceramics

PACS

77.55.fg

Pb(Zr,Ti)O3-based films
77.84.Cg

PZT ceramics and other titanates
77.80.Dj

Domain structure; hysteresis

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3474953

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0021-8979 (print)

1089-7550 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef

American Institute of Physics

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