Facile fabrication of highly ordered poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) nanodot arrays for organic ferroelectric memory

Journal Article · Thu Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939601· OSTI ID:22494853

Fang, Huajing ^[1]; Yan, Qingfeng; Geng, Chong; Li, Qiang ^[2]; Chan, Ngai Yui; Au, Kit; Ng, Sheung Mei; Leung, Chi Wah; Wa Chan, Helen Lai; Dai, Jiyan ^[1]; Yao, Jianjun ^[3]; Guo, Dong ^[4]

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1. Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) Hunghom, Kowloon (Hong Kong)
2. Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)
3. Asylum Research, Oxford Instruments, Shanghai 200233 (China)
4. Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China)

Nano-patterned ferroelectric materials have attracted significant attention as the presence of two or more thermodynamically equivalent switchable polarization states can be employed in many applications such as non-volatile memory. In this work, a simple and effective approach for fabrication of highly ordered poly(vinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE) nanodot arrays is demonstrated. By using a soft polydimethylsiloxane mold, we successfully transferred the 2D array pattern from the initial monolayer of colloidal polystyrene nanospheres to the imprinted P(VDF-TrFE) films via nanoimprinting. The existence of a preferred orientation of the copolymer chain after nanoimprinting was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectra. Local polarization switching behavior was measured by piezoresponse force microscopy, and each nanodot showed well-formed hysteresis curve and butterfly loop with a coercive field of ∼62.5 MV/m. To illustrate the potential application of these ordered P(VDF-TrFE) nanodot arrays, the writing and reading process as non-volatile memory was demonstrated at a relatively low voltage. As such, our results offer a facile and promising route to produce arrays of ferroelectric polymer nanodots with improved piezoelectric functionality.

• OSTI ID: 22494853
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COPOLYMERS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
FABRICATION
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
FILMS
FLUORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
GRAIN ORIENTATION
HYSTERESIS
INFRARED SPECTRA
MICROSCOPY
PIEZOELECTRICITY
POLARIZATION
POLYSTYRENE
QUANTUM DOTS
VOLATILITY