Abstract
The application of ferroelectric materials for nonvolatile memory and ferroelectric data storage necessitates quantitative studies of local switching characteristics and their relationship to material microstructure and defects. Switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy (SS-PFM) is developed as a quantitative tool for real-space imaging of imprint, coercive bias, remanent and saturation responses, and domain nucleation voltage on the nanoscale. Examples of SS-PFM implementation, data analysis, and data visualization are presented for epitaxial lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films and polycrystalline PZT ceramics. Several common artifacts related to the measurement method, environmental factors, and instrument settings are analyzed.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 073702 |
Journal | Review of Scientific Instruments |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2006 |
Funding
The research is supported by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. The authors gratefully acknowledge I. Vrejoiu and M. Alexe (MPI) for epitaxial PZT film used to obtain data in Figs. . The samples used to obtain data in Figs. were grown by H. N. Lee. The PZT sample used for studies in Figs. was prepared by C. Watson (Sandia).