Ferroelectric stripe domains in PbTiO{sub 3} thin films: Depolarization field and domain randomness

Journal Article · Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2978225· OSTI ID:21182640

Takahashi, R; Dahl, O; Eberg, E; Grepstad, J K; Tybell, T ^[1]

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1. Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, O. S. Bragstads plass 2a, 7491 Trondheim (Norway)

Observation of stripe domains in PbTiO{sub 3} thin films using standard x-ray diffraction analysis at room temperature is discussed. High-quality c-axis oriented thin films of varying thickness, from 6 to 210 unit cells, were grown on buffered NH{sub 4}-HF etched SrTiO{sub 3}(001) and Nb:SrTiO{sub 3}(001) substrates using off-axis radio frequency magnetron sputtering. High-resolution linear Q{sub x} scans reveal a superstructure around the specular Bragg peaks, consistent with the presence of ferroelectric stripe domains. For thin samples, the stripe width is found to be proportional to the square root of the film thickness, with random in-plane orientation of domains. For films with a thickness of more than {approx}100 unit cells, both monodomain samples and stripe domains were observed. We present evidence for the presence of a threshold depolarization field, above which there is a monotonically decreasing relationship between the domain width and the depolarization field. Furthermore, simulations show that random variations in size of the domains affect the separation of the diffuse scattering peaks from that of the specular reflection.

• OSTI ID: 21182640
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 104, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2978225; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BRAGG CURVE
DEPOLARIZATION
DIFFUSE SCATTERING
ETCHING
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
LAYERS
LEAD COMPOUNDS
NIOBIUM
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
RANDOMNESS
SIMULATION
SPUTTERING
STRONTIUM TITANATES
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE COATING
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION