Recently, the semiconducting characteristics of BiFeO 3 thin films such as the photovoltaic effect or diode characteristics have been extensively investigated. However, the current conduction mechanism has not been completely clarified yet. In this study, the current conduction mechanism of the ideal BFO thin film, which has a single domain without conduction domain walls, such as 71 and 109°domain walls, has been investigated. The current density-electric field (J-E) characteristics of 100-to 1000-nm-thick BFO thin films and their temperature dependence in the range of 100-260 K have been carefully investigated. From these thickness and temperature dependences of the J-E characteristics, it can be concluded that the most probable mechanism of current conduction in the single-domain BFO thin film is space-charge-limited current (SCLC) with a shallow trap.

BiFeO 3 (BFO) thin films have been prepared on SrTiO 3 (001) single crystal substrates by sputtering process which is suitable for mass production. Domain structure can be controlled by off-cut angle and direction of SrTiO 3 substrates. A lateral PFM and a XRD reciprocal space mapping results reveal the BFO thin film on SrTiO 3 (001) with 4 o off-cut along [110] is single domain. The single domain BFO shows well-saturated ferroelectric D-E hysteresis loops at R.T.

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