Quantitative analysis of the nucleation and growth of ferroelectric domains in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films

S. M. Yang, J. W. Heo, H. N. Lee, T. K. Song, J. G. Yoon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

We determined simultaneously the domain wall speed (v) and the nucleation rate (N) of ferroelectric (FE) domains in 100 nm-thick epitaxial PbZr 0.2Ti0.8O3 capacitors from successive domain evolution images under various applied electric fields (Eapp) by using piezoresponse force microscopy. We found that, at a given Eapp, the v and the N values decreased as the switching process proceeded. The averaged domain wall speed < v > was confirmed to follow the Merz's law, < v > ∝ exp[-(.E0/Eapp)], with an activation field E0 of about 700 kV/cm. Moreover, we found that the nucleation process played a more important role in the FE domain switching at higher fields while domain wall motion mainly contributed to the switching at lower fields.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)820-824
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of the Korean Physical Society
Volume55
Issue number2 PART 1
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2009

Keywords

  • Domain
  • Ferroelectric
  • PZT
  • Piezoresponse force microscopy
  • Switching

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