SPM studies of ferroelectric nanostructures prepared by a microemulsion-assisted method onto substrates

Abstract

Ferroelectric PbTiO3 nanostructures have been fabricated using two different procedures that involve microemulsions and Chemical Solution Deposition onto Pt/TiO2/SiO2/(100)Si substrates. The first procedure enables the fabrication of structures with controlled size and shape, as observed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) topography and computer assisted quantitative analysis, while the second procedure, in addition, yields very small (? 20 nm) isolated, ferroelectric nanoislands. The ferroelectric character of the nanostructures is demonstrated using Piezoelectric Force Microscopy (PFM). The ferroelectric properties depend on the height of the nanostructures, showing a strong pinning layer effect for the smaller ones, revealed by the asymmetry of the piezoelectric hysteresis loops. .