Electrical Tunability of Domain Wall Conductivity in LiNbO3 Thin Films

Domain wall nanoelectronics is a rapidly evolving field, which explores the diverse electronic properties of the ferroelectric domain walls for application in low‐dimensional electronic systems. One of the most prominent features of the ferroelectric domain walls is their electrical conductivity. Here, using a combination of scanning probe and scanning transmission electron microscopy, the mechanism of the tunable conducting behavior of the domain walls in the sub‐micrometer thick films of the technologically important ferroelectric LiNbO₃ is explored. It is found that the electric bias generates stable domains with strongly inclined domain boundaries with the inclination angle reaching 20° with respect to the polar axis. The head‐to‐head domain boundaries exhibit high conductance, which can be modulated by application of the sub‐coercive voltage. Electron microscopy visualization of the electrically written domains and piezoresponse force microscopy imaging of the very same domains reveals that the gradual and reversible transition between the conducting and insulating states of the domain walls results from the electrically induced wall bending near the sample surface. The observed modulation of the wall conductance is corroborated by the phase‐field modeling. The results open a possibility for exploiting the conducting domain walls as the electrically controllable functional elements in the multilevel logic nanoelectronics devices.     

铁电薄膜中的电畴研究进展

铁电薄膜是一类重要的功能材料,铁电畴是其物理基础.综述了铁电薄膜中电畴的表征方法(高分辨透射电镜、扫描力显微镜、X射线衍射、拉曼光谱等)、类型(c畴和a畴、180°畴和90°畴等)、临界尺寸(单畴临界尺寸和铁电临界尺寸)等方面的研究进展,提出了研究中需要解决的一些问题.     

铁电薄膜材料及其相关问题研究进展

铁电薄膜材料是目前国际上研究的热点之一.综述了铁电薄膜及其制备技术研究的新进展,介绍铁电薄膜材料的性能及应用,并重点分析了铁电薄膜不同制备技术的优缺点,指出了目前关于铁电薄膜研究中的一些重要问题.     

纳米尺度铁电畴的扫描力显微镜成像研究进展

扫描力显微镜(SFM)作为一种新型的超分辨率近场扫描探针显微仪器正日益受到各学科领域的高度重视.在铁电材料领域,SFM是开展纳米尺度铁电畴结构成像、纳米尺度畴结构控制及纳米尺度微区的铁电性、介电性、压电性等特性研究的潜在的强有力的研究工具.本文就纳米尺度铁电畴的扫描力显微镜的成像原理的研究进展作一综述.     

Intrinsic Conductance of Domain Walls in BiFeO3

Ferroelectric domain walls exhibit a number of new functionalities that are not present in their host material. One of these functional characteristics is electrical conductivity that may lead to future device applications. Although progress has been made, the intrinsic conductivity of BiFeO₃ domain walls is still elusive. Here, the intrinsic conductivity of 71° and 109° domain walls is reported by probing the local conductance over a cross section of the BiFeO₃/TbScO₃ (001) heterostructure. Through a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high‐resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy, and phase‐field simulations, it is found that the 71° domain wall has an inherently charged nature, while the 109° domain wall is close to neutral. Hence, the intrinsic conductivity of the 71° domain walls is an order of magnitude larger than that of the 109° domain walls associated with bound‐charge‐induced bandgap lowering. Furthermore, the interaction of adjacent 71° domain walls and domain wall curvature leads to a variation of the charge distribution inside the walls, and causes a discontinuity of potential in the [110]_p direction, which results in an alternative conductivity of the neighboring 71° domain walls, and a low conductivity of the 71° domain walls when measurement is taken from the film top surface.     

铁电材料中的大电卡效应

电卡效应在实现高效率和小尺寸的固态制冷器件方面具有巨大的潜力。本文介绍了获得大的电卡效应的热力学原理, 评述了近年来电卡效应的实验表征工作, 发展了一种直接测量电卡效应熵变或温度变化的方法。结果表明: 驰豫型铁电体聚合物和一级相变聚合物材料表现出较大的电卡效应。综合最近在BaTiO₃单晶和多层陶瓷电容器的工作, 以及铁电制冷器件的尝试, 电卡效应表现出诱人的应用前景。     

全范围测量复谱频域OCT系统

为了提高复杂多层样品的测量范围,构建了复谱频域光学相干层析成像系统．通过重建图像的振幅和相位可以减小图像的噪声,提高图像的质量,并对样品进行了实验．实验结果表明,该系统可以消除谱频域OCT图像中的寄生项和镜像,改善和提高层析图像质量,有效测量范围提高了2倍,实现了全量程的有效探测．     

67 Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-33PbTiO3单晶90铁电畴光学研究

采用偏光显微镜观察了67Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-33PbTiO3固溶体铁电单晶在室温时90铁电畴结构.铁电畴结构与晶体质量有关,在正交偏光显微镜下光学透明晶体中存在着尺寸为23mm的均匀大畴,不同极化方向的大畴重叠形成雾状区,使晶体表现出光学质量宏观不均匀.在光学质量差的雾状晶体中则存在着0.1mm宽的110型带状孪生畴,使晶体形成表面浮凸,带状畴内还存在着90°亚畴.并对这些畴的形成作了讨论     

Nanoscale Bubble Domains and Topological Transitions in Ultrathin Ferroelectric Films

Observation of a new type of nanoscale ferroelectric domains, termed as “bubble domains”—laterally confined spheroids of sub‐10 nm size with local dipoles self‐aligned in a direction opposite to the macroscopic polarization of a surrounding ferroelectric matrix—is reported. The bubble domains appear in ultrathin epitaxial PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃/SrTiO₃/PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ ferroelectric sandwich structures due to the interplay between charge and lattice degrees of freedom. The existence of the bubble domains is revealed by high‐resolution piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), and is corroborated by aberration‐corrected atomic‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy mapping of the polarization displacements. An incommensurate phase and symmetry breaking is found within these domains resulting in local polarization rotation and hence impart a mixed Néel–Bloch‐like character to the bubble domain walls. PFM hysteresis loops for the bubble domains reveal that they undergo an irreversible phase transition to cylindrical domains under the electric field, accompanied by a transient rise in the electromechanical response. The observations are in agreement with ab‐initio‐based calculations, which reveal a very narrow window of electrical and elastic parameters that allow the existence of bubble domains. The findings highlight the richness of polar topologies possible in ultrathin ferroelectric structures and bring forward the prospect of emergent functionalities due to topological transitions.