Abstract
Piezoresponse force microscopy has been used to manipulate and image polarization of ferroelectric polymer Langmuir-Blodgett films at the nanoscale, achieving polarization control with a resolution below 50 nm and imaging resolution below 5 nm. Individual regions showed square polarization-voltage hysteresis loops, demonstrating bistability of the polarization state. Arbitrary polarization patterns could be repeatedly written and erased with a resolution of 25 to 50 nm, limited by grain size, demonstrating the potential for high-density data storage and retrieval at densities exceeding 250 Gbits in2.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 122904 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2007 |
Funding
Work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was supported by LDRD funds (B.J.R., S.J., and S.V.K.). ORNL is operated by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. Work at the University of Nebraska (J.K., S.D., and V.M.F.) was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Nebraska Research Initiative. The authors are grateful to V. Meunier for insightful discussions.