Article abstract
Nature Materials 2, 43 - 47 (2002)
Published online: 22 December 2002 | doi:10.1038/nmat800
Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Surface and thin films
Dynamics of ferroelastic domains in ferroelectric thin films
V. Nagarajan1, A. Roytburd1, A. Stanishevsky1, S. Prasertchoung1, T. Zhao1, L. Chen1, J. Melngailis1, O. Auciello2 & R. Ramesh1
Abstract
Dynamics of domain interfaces in a broad range of functional thin-film materials is an area of great current interest. In ferroelectric thin films, a significantly enhanced piezoelectric response should be observed if non-180° domain walls were to switch under electric field excitation. However, in continuous thin films they are clamped by the substrate, and therefore their contribution to the piezoelectric response is limited. In this paper we show that when the ferroelectric layer is patterned into discrete islands using a focused ion beam, the clamping effect is significantly reduced, thereby facilitating the movement of ferroelastic walls. Piezo-response scanning force microscopy images of such islands in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin films clearly point out that the 90° domain walls can move. Capacitors 1 
m2 show a doubling of the remanent polarization at voltages higher than 
15 V, associated with 90° domain switching, coupled with a d33 piezoelectric coefficient of 250 pm V-1 at remanence, which is approximately three times the predicted value of 87 pm V-1 for a single domain single crystal.
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
- Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
Correspondence to: R. Ramesh1 e-mail: rramesh@eng.umd.edu
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