中国物理B ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (10): 107702-107702.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/10/107702

• CONDENSED MATTER: ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE, ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC, AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES • 上一篇    下一篇

Nanoscale domain switching mechanism of Bi3.15Eu0.85Ti3O12 thin film under the different mechanical forces

朱哲a, 陈玉博a, 郑学军b   

  1. a School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China;
    b School of Mechanical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
  • 收稿日期:2015-03-15 修回日期:2015-05-24 出版日期:2015-10-05 发布日期:2015-10-05
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51272158 and 11302185), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department, China (Grant No. 13C901), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant Nos. 14JJ3081 and 13JJ1019).

Nanoscale domain switching mechanism of Bi3.15Eu0.85Ti3O12 thin film under the different mechanical forces

Zhu Zhe (朱哲)a, Chen Yu-Bo (陈玉博)a, Zheng Xue-Jun (郑学军)b   

  1. a School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China;
    b School of Mechanical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
  • Received:2015-03-15 Revised:2015-05-24 Online:2015-10-05 Published:2015-10-05
  • Contact: Zhu Zhe E-mail:akzhuzhe@126.com
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51272158 and 11302185), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department, China (Grant No. 13C901), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant Nos. 14JJ3081 and 13JJ1019).

摘要: The switching process of ferroelectric thin films in electronic devices is one of the most important requirements for their application. Especially for the different external fields acting on the film surface, the mechanism of domain switching is more complicated. Here we observe the nanoscale domain switchings of Bi3.15Eu0.85Ti3O12 thin film under different mechanical forces at a fast scan rate. As the force increases from initial state to 247.5 nN, the original bright or grey contrasts within the selected grains are all changed into dark contrasts corresponding to the polarization vectors reversed from the up state to the down state, except for the clusters. As the mechanical force increases to 495 nN, the color contrasts in all of the selected grains further turn into grey contrasts and some are even changed into grey contrasts completely showing the typical 90° domain switching. When another stronger loading force 742.5 nN is applied, the phase image becomes unclear and it indicates that the piezoelectric signal can be suppressed under a sufficiently high force, which is coincident with previous experimental results. Furthermore, we adopt the domain switching criterion from the perspective of equilibrium state free energy of ferroelectric nanodomain to explain the mechanisms of force-generated domain switchings.

关键词: thin film, domain switching, mechanical force, piezoresponse force microscopy

Abstract: The switching process of ferroelectric thin films in electronic devices is one of the most important requirements for their application. Especially for the different external fields acting on the film surface, the mechanism of domain switching is more complicated. Here we observe the nanoscale domain switchings of Bi3.15Eu0.85Ti3O12 thin film under different mechanical forces at a fast scan rate. As the force increases from initial state to 247.5 nN, the original bright or grey contrasts within the selected grains are all changed into dark contrasts corresponding to the polarization vectors reversed from the up state to the down state, except for the clusters. As the mechanical force increases to 495 nN, the color contrasts in all of the selected grains further turn into grey contrasts and some are even changed into grey contrasts completely showing the typical 90° domain switching. When another stronger loading force 742.5 nN is applied, the phase image becomes unclear and it indicates that the piezoelectric signal can be suppressed under a sufficiently high force, which is coincident with previous experimental results. Furthermore, we adopt the domain switching criterion from the perspective of equilibrium state free energy of ferroelectric nanodomain to explain the mechanisms of force-generated domain switchings.

Key words: thin film, domain switching, mechanical force, piezoresponse force microscopy

中图分类号:  (Other ferroelectric films)

  • 77.55.fp
77.80.Dj (Domain structure; hysteresis) 77.80.Fm (Switching phenomena) 68.37.-d (Microscopy of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films)