Ferroelectric domain structures of epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films on miscut 001 SrTiO3 substrates have been studied by transmission electron microscopy. BiFeO3 on 0.8° miscut substrates are composed of both 109° and 71° domains; in contrast, only 71° stripe domains are observed in BiFeO3 on 4° miscut 001 SrTiO3 substrates. The domain width in BiFeO3 on 4° miscut substrates increases as film thickn...

By taking into account surface transition layers (STL), the dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin films described by the transverse Ising model are discussed in the framework of the mean field approximation. Functions of the intra-layer and inter-layer couplings are introduced to characterize STL, which makes the model more realistic compared to previous treatment of surface layers using ...

Related Articles Influence of target composition and deposition temperature on the domain structure of BiFeO3 thin films AIP Advances 2, 042104 (2012) Nanodomain structures formation during polarization reversal in uniform electric field in strontium barium niobate single crystals J. Appl. Phys. 112, 064117 (2012) The effect of the top electrode interface on the hysteretic behavior of epitaxial...

Investigation of ferroelectric domains in thin films of vinylidene fluoride oligomers" (2014). Stephen Ducharme Publications. Paper 94.

Three kinds of near-field microscopy imaging mode including SEAM (Scanning electron acoustic microscopy), PFM (Piezoresponse force microscopy) and SPAM (Scanning probe acoustic microscopy) have been developed to investigate domain structures of ferroelectric ceramics, crystals and thin films in our studies. The domain imaging mechanisms are presented individually in three imaging modes. Sub-sur...

We report the first instance of deposition of preferentially oriented, nanocrystalline, and nanocolumnar strontium-doped lead zirconate titanate (PSZT) ferroelectric thin films directly on thermal silicon dioxide. No intermediate seed or activation layers were used between PSZT and silicon dioxide. The deposited thin films have been characterised using a combination of diffraction and microscop...

Two Planar Pt electrodes with an inter-electrode distance of about 100 nm were fabricated at the surface of BiFeO3 thin films, which allow the manipulation of ferroelectric domain switching at nanoscale. This electrode configuration was pursued to study conductive domain-wall influence on the photovoltaic current in BiFeO3 thin films. Modulations of short-circuit photovoltaic current and hyster...

PbZrO3/SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (100) epitaxial heterostructures with different thickness of the PbZrO3 (PZO) layer (dPZO ∼ 5–160 nm) were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition. The ultrathin PZO films (dPZO 10 nm) were found to possess a rhombohedral structure. On increasing the PZO film thickness, a bulk like orthorhombic phase started forming in the film with dPZO ∼ 22 nm and became abundant in the thi...

Ferroelectric thin films grown on high index substrates show unusual structural and switching dynamics due to their special strain states. Understanding the misfit relaxation behavior is crucial to facilitate the high index thin film growth with improved quality. In this paper, ferroelectric PbTiO3 thin films were grown on LaAlO3 (111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. The micros...

Ferroelectric solar cells based on ferroelectric oxides have attracted significant attention owing to many unique advantages, such as the switchable photocurrent and photovoltage, and the above bandgap open circuit voltages. However, the small photocurrent densities of the typical ferroelectric solar cells greatly limit their photovoltaic performance. In this report, we experimentally revealed ...