skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Investigation of ferroelectric domains in thin films of vinylidene fluoride oligomers

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4890412· OSTI ID:22311093
; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 (United States)
  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Center for Nanohybrid Functional Materials, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 (United States)

High-resolution vector piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) has been used to investigate ferroelectric domains in thin vinylidene fluoride oligomer films fabricated by the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition technique. Molecular chains are found to be preferentially oriented normal to the substrate, and PFM imaging shows that the films are in ferroelectric β-phase with a predominantly in-plane polarization, in agreement with infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and X-ray diffraction measurements. The fractal analysis of domain structure has yielded the Hausdorff dimension (D) in the range of ∼1.3–1.5 indicating a random-bond nature of the disorder potential, with domain size exhibiting Landau-Lifshitz-Kittel scaling.

OSTI ID:
22311093
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English