Dynamics of Thermally Driven Domain Transformation in Ferroelectric Thin Films

Liu, Rui; Gura, Anna; Sauyet, Theodore; Zhang, Yugang; Wiegart, Lutz; Fluerasu, Andrei; Dawber, Matthew

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.056801

Dynamics of Thermally Driven Domain Transformation in Ferroelectric Thin Films

Journal Article · Wed Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.056801· OSTI ID:2572413

^[1]; ^[2]; Sauyet, Theodore ^[2]; ^[3]; Wiegart, Lutz ^[3]; Fluerasu, Andrei ^[3]; ^[2]

Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

An important feature in ultrathin ferroelectric films is the spontaneous formation of nanoscale polarization domain patterns. Epitaxial strain can greatly increase the ferroelectric transition temperature such that films can be in the ferroelectric state during growth. On the other hand, depolarization fields compete with ferroelectricity in ultrathin films, and, consequently, the optimal domain configuration during growth is a moving target. Under these conditions it is readily possible for a grown film to be in a nonequilibrium domain configuration. As the energy landscape in the system is quite complex, the relaxation dynamics by which a system can evolve towards the true equilibrium configuration are also quite interesting. Here, to capture the details of this process we used Bragg-geometry x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS), in which x-ray scattering speckle patterns contain the information from the domain arrangements inside the film. With modest heating (∼15⁢0 °C) domain relaxation from 𝑇 (tetragonal) to 𝑀_𝐶 (monoclinic) was observed in BaTiO₃ films grown on ultrathin ferroelectric PbTiO₃ layers. Two-time correlation analysis reveals fascinating details associated with sticking points and reversals in the process.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 2572413

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2574005

Report Number(s):: BNL--228433-2025-JAAM

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 134; ISSN 1079-7114; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (43)

Dynamics in hard condensed matter probed by X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy: Present and beyond Zhang (张庆腾), Qingteng; Dufresne, Eric M.; Sandy, Alec R. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Vol. 22, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cossms.2018.06.002	journal	October 2018
Spontaneous Vortex Nanodomain Arrays at Ferroelectric Heterointerfaces Nelson, Christopher T.; Winchester, Benjamin; Zhang, Yi Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl1041808	journal	February 2011
Electrostatic Coupling and Local Structural Distortions at Interfaces in Ferroelectric/Paraelectric Superlattices Zubko, P.; Jecklin, N.; Torres-Pardo, A. Nano Letters, Vol. 12, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl3003717	journal	May 2012
Vortex Polarization States in Nanoscale Ferroelectric Arrays Rodriguez, B. J.; Gao, X. S.; Liu, L. F. Nano Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl8036646	journal	March 2009
Domains in Ferroelectric Nanodots Schilling, A.; Byrne, D.; Catalan, G. Nano Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl901661a	journal	September 2009
Critical thickness for ferroelectricity in perovskite ultrathin films Junquera, Javier; Ghosez, Philippe Nature, Vol. 422, Issue 6931, p. 506-509 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01501	journal	April 2003
Unusual phase transitions in ferroelectric nanodisks and nanorods Naumov, Ivan I.; Bellaiche, L.; Fu, Huaxiang Nature, Vol. 432, Issue 7018 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03107	journal	December 2004
Observation of polar vortices in oxide superlattices Yadav, A. K.; Nelson, C. T.; Hsu, S. L. Nature, Vol. 530, Issue 7589 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16463	journal	January 2016
In situ X-ray diffraction and the evolution of polarization during the growth of ferroelectric superlattices Bein, Benjamin; Hsing, Hsiang-Chun; Callori, Sara J. Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10136	journal	December 2015
Mesoscale flux-closure domain formation in single-crystal BaTiO₃ McQuaid, R. G. P.; McGilly, L. J.; Sharma, P. Nature Communications, Vol. 2, Article No. 404 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1413	journal	July 2011
Enhanced electric conductivity at ferroelectric vortex cores in BiFeO3 Balke, Nina; Winchester, Benjamin; Ren, Wei Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2132	journal	November 2011
Role of ferroelectric polarization during growth of highly strained ferroelectric materials Liu, Rui; Ulbrandt, Jeffrey G.; Hsing, Hsiang-Chun Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16356-9	journal	May 2020
Observation of room-temperature polar skyrmions Das, S.; Tang, Y. L.; Hong, Z. Nature, Vol. 568, Issue 7752 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1092-8	journal	April 2019
Avalanche dynamics of ferroelectric phase transitions in BaTiO ₃ and 0.7Pb(Mg _2∕3 Nb _1∕3 )O ₃ -0.3PbTiO ₃ single crystals Xu, Yangyang; Xue, Dezhen; Zhou, Yumei Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5099212	journal	July 2019
History dependence of avalanche dynamics of ferroelectric phase transition in BaTiO3 under external bias field Xu, Yangyang; Shao, Guomang; Zhou, Yumei Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0133020	journal	January 2023
Exotic Domain States in Ferroelectrics: Searching for Vortices and Skyrmions Gregg, J. M. Ferroelectrics, Vol. 433, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/00150193.2012.678131	journal	January 2012
Nanoscale ferroelectrics: processing, characterization and future trends Gruverman, A.; Kholkin, A. Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 69, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/69/8/R04	journal	July 2006
Local polarization dynamics in ferroelectric materials Kalinin, Sergei V.; Morozovska, Anna N.; Chen, Long Qing Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 73, Issue 5, Article No. 056502 https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/73/5/056502	journal	April 2010
Depolarization corrections to the coercive field in thin-film ferroelectrics Dawber, M.; Chandra, P.; Littlewood, P. B. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 15, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/15/24/106	journal	June 2003
Original properties of dipole vortices in zero-dimensional ferroelectrics Prosandeev, S.; Ponomareva, I.; Naumov, I. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 20, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/20/19/193201	journal	April 2008
Vortex ferroelectric domains Gruverman, A.; Wu, D.; Fan, H-J Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 20, Issue 34 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/20/34/342201	journal	August 2008
Theory of the Structure of Ferromagnetic Domains in Films and Small Particles Kittel, Charles Physical Review, Vol. 70, Issue 11-12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.70.965	journal	December 1946
Low-dimensional ferroelectrics under different electrical and mechanical boundary conditions: Atomistic simulations Ponomareva, I.; Naumov, I. I.; Bellaiche, L. Physical Review B, Vol. 72, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.214118	journal	December 2005
Ferromagneticlike Closure Domains in Ferroelectric Ultrathin Films: First-Principles Simulations Aguado-Puente, Pablo; Junquera, Javier Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.177601	journal	April 2008
Thermal Fluctuations of Ferroelectric Nanodomains in a Ferroelectric-Dielectric PbTiO 3 / SrTiO 3 Superlattice Zhang, Qingteng; Dufresne, Eric M.; Chen, Pice Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.097601	journal	February 2017
Effect of Mechanical Boundary Conditions on Phase Diagrams of Epitaxial Ferroelectric Thin Films Pertsev, N. A.; Zembilgotov, A. G.; Tagantsev, A. K. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.1988	journal	March 1998
Observation of Nanoscale 180 ° Stripe Domains in Ferroelectric P b T i O 3 Thin Films Streiffer, S. K.; Eastman, J. A.; Fong, D. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.067601	journal	July 2002
Ferroelectricity in Barium Titanate Quantum Dots and Wires Fu, Huaxiang; Bellaiche, L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.257601	journal	December 2003
Ultrathin Films of Ferroelectric Solid Solutions under a Residual Depolarizing Field Kornev, Igor; Fu, Huaxiang; Bellaiche, L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.196104	journal	November 2004
Ferroelectricity and Tetragonality in Ultrathin P b T i O 3 Films Lichtensteiger, Céline; Triscone, Jean-Marc; Junquera, Javier Physical Review Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.047603	journal	February 2005
X-Ray Intensity Fluctuation Spectroscopy Studies on Phase-Ordering Systems Fluerasu, Andrei; Sutton, Mark; Dufresne, Eric M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.055501	journal	February 2005
Stabilization of Monodomain Polarization in Ultrathin PbTiO 3 Films Fong, D. D.; Kolpak, A. M.; Eastman, J. A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 12, Article No. 127601 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.127601	journal	March 2006
Electric-Field-Induced Domain Evolution in Ferroelectric Ultrathin Films Lai, Bo-Kuai; Ponomareva, I.; Naumov, I. I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.137602	journal	April 2006
Ferroelectric switching and scale invariant avalanches in BaTi O 3 Salje, E. K. H.; Xue, D.; Ding, X. Physical Review Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.014415	journal	January 2019
Avalanches during ferroelectric and ferroelastic switching in barium titanate ceramics Xu, Yangyang; Shao, Guomang; Pang, Jianbo Physical Review Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.124413	journal	December 2022
X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy Shpyrko, Oleg G. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Vol. 21, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577514018232	journal	August 2014
Scanning force microscopy for the study of domain structure in ferroelectric thin films Gruverman, A. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures, Vol. 14, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.589143	journal	March 1996
Ferroelectricity in Ultrathin Perovskite Films Fong, Dillon D.; Stephenson, G. Brian; Streiffer, Stephen K. Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5677, p. 1650-1653 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1098252	journal	June 2004
Enhancement of Ferroelectricity in Strained BaTiO₃ Thin Films Choi, K. J.; Biegalski, M.; Li, Y. L. Science, Vol. 306, Issue 5698, p. 1005-1009 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1103218	journal	November 2004
Direct Observation of Continuous Electric Dipole Rotation in Flux-Closure Domains in Ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Jia, C. -L.; Urban, K. W.; Alexe, M. Science, Vol. 331, Issue 6023 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1200605	journal	March 2011
Observation of a periodic array of flux-closure quadrants in strained ferroelectric PbTiO3 films Tang, Y. L.; Zhu, Y. L.; Ma, X. L. Science, Vol. 348, Issue 6234 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259869	journal	April 2015
Strain Tuning of Ferroelectric Thin Films Schlom, Darrell G.; Chen, Long-Qing; Eom, Chang-Beom Annual Review of Materials Research, Vol. 37, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.matsci.37.061206.113016	journal	August 2007
Using coherence to measure two-time correlation functions Sutton, Mark; Laaziri, Khalid; Livet, F. Optics Express, Vol. 11, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.11.002268	journal	January 2003

Similar Records

Domain fluctuations in a ferroelectric low-strain BaTiO₃ thin film

Journal Article · Tue Nov 10 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Physical Review Materials · OSTI ID:1732144

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Ferroelectric domains
Ferroelectricity
Thin films
X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy
ferroelectric domains
ferroelectricity
thin films

Dynamics of Thermally Driven Domain Transformation in Ferroelectric Thin Films

Citation Formats

References (43)

Similar Records

Related Subjects