Article abstract
Nature Materials 7, 209 - 215 (2008)
Published online: 3 February 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmat2114
Subject Categories: Ceramics | Electronic materials | Characterisation and analytical techniques
Direct imaging of the spatial and energy distribution of nucleation centres in ferroelectric materials
Stephen Jesse1,2, Brian J. Rodriguez1,2, Samrat Choudhury3, Arthur P. Baddorf2, Ionela Vrejoiu4, Dietrich Hesse4, Marin Alexe4, Eugene A. Eliseev5, Anna N. Morozovska6, Jingxian Zhang3, Long-Qing Chen3 & Sergei V. Kalinin1,2
Abstract
Macroscopic ferroelectric polarization switching, similar to other first-order phase transitions, is controlled by nucleation centres. Despite 50 years of extensive theoretical and experimental effort, the microstructural origins of the Landauer paradox, that is, the experimentally observed low values of coercive fields in ferroelectrics corresponding to implausibly large nucleation activation energies, are still a mystery. Here, we develop an approach to visualize the nucleation centres controlling polarization switching processes with nanometre resolution, determine their spatial and energy distribution and correlate them to local microstructure. The random-bond and random-field components of the disorder potential are extracted from positive and negative nucleation biases. Observation of enhanced nucleation activity at the 90° domain wall boundaries and intersections combined with phase-field modelling identifies them as a class of nucleation centres that control switching in structural-defect-free materials.
- Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
- The Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Max Plank Institute of Microstructure Physics, 06120 Halle, Germany
- Institute for Problems of Materials Science, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, 3, Krjijanovskogo, 03142 Kiev, Ukraine
- V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, 41, pr. Nauki, 03028 Kiev, Ukraine
Correspondence to: Sergei V. Kalinin1,2 e-mail: sergei2@ornl.gov
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