Growth and characterization of 10-nm-thick c-axis oriented epitaxial PbZr0.25Ti0.75O3 thin films on (100)Si substrate

Abstract

A 10-nm-thick PbZr0.25Ti0.75O3 thin film is epitaxially grown on a SrRuO3/BaTiO3/ZrO2/Si heterostructure substrate by reactive evaporation. Structural and electrical properties of the film are investigated. It is concluded that the film is ferroelectric and retains a native uniform upward polarization. Artificial downward polarization domains, whose average diameter is 24 nm, can be formed in the film.

Nanoscale studies of ferroelectric domain walls as pinned elastic interfaces

“…Artificial linear domains are thus "written" in the sample by a scanning tip held at a voltage beyond the switching threshold, while individual nanodomains are created by the application of voltage pulses to a stationary tip. Such nanodomains, whose size depends on both the duration and magnitude of the voltage pulse, as well as the size of the tip itself [77,78], can be as small as a few nm in radius [79], in particular when ultrasharp tips based on carbon nanotubes are used [80,81,82], and remain fully stable in measurements extending over a year [83,84]. While PFM imaging is clearly neither real-time, nor full-field-of-view, information on the switching dynamics and domain growth rates in the sample can nonetheless be obtained from averaging the size of sufficient numbers of these nanodomains written with a particular voltage pulse duration and magnitude.…”

General features of the intrinsic ferroelectric coercive field

“…There may soon be results bearing on this question as several groups have reported good films with thicknesses less than 10 nm made from several known bulk ferroelectric materials [21,[32][33][34]. Recent improvements in the quality of solvent-crystallized vinylidene fluoride copolymers should help elucidate the effects of nucleation and domain-wall motion in bulk crystals [35][36][37] Fig.…”

Minimum domain size and stability in carbon nanotube-ferroelectric devices

“…1,2 From initial demonstrations of small domain size and high stability, 3,4 through continued enhancement of domain density, 5,6 the local, high-intensity fields generated by metallic atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips were a key element. An important advance has been the functionalization of such tips with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), whose excellent metallic-state electrical conductivity, high strength, and small size have made them particularly interesting for polarization control.…”