The Ultrathin Limit and Dead-layer Effects in Local Polarization Switching of BiFeO3

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.014119· OSTI ID:1113155

Maksymovych, Petro ^[1]; Huijben, Mark ^[2]; Pan, Minghu ^[1]; Jesse, Stephen ^[1]; Balke, Nina ^[1]; Chang, Hye Jung ^[1]; Borisevich, Albina Y ^[1]; Baddorf, Arthur P ^[1]; Rijnders, Guus ^[3]; Blank, Dave H. A. ^[2]; Ramesh, R. ^[4]; Kalinin, Sergei V ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. University of Twente, Netherlands
3. MESA+ University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
4. University of California, Berkeley

Using piezoresponse force microscopy in ultra-high vacuum, polarization switching has been detected and quantified in epitaxial BiFeO3 films from 200 down to ~ 4 unit cells. Local remnant piezoresponse was used to infer the applied electric field inside the ferroelectric volume, and account for the elusive effect of dead-layers in ultrathin films. The dead-layer manifested itself in the slower than anticipated decrease of the switching bias with film thickness, yielding apparent Kay-Dunn scaling of the switching field, while the statistical analysis of hysteresis loops revealed lateral variation of the dead-layer with sub-10 nm resolution.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1113155
• Journal Information: Physical Review B, Vol. 85, Issue 1; ISSN 1098--0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English