Mechanical Switching of Ferroelectric Domains in 33‐200 nm‐Thick Sol‐Gel‐Grown PbZr 0.2 Ti 0.8 O 3 Films Assisted by Nanocavities

Sergio Gonzalez Casal (1) , Xiaofei Bai (1) , Kevin Alhada‐lahbabi (2) , Bruno Canut (3) , Bertrand Vilquin (3) , Pedro Rojo Romeo (4) , Solène Brottet (5) , David Albertini (5) , Damien Deleruyelle (1) , Matthieu Bugnet (6) , Ingrid Canero Infante (1) , Brice Gautier (1)

1 INL - DE - INL - Dispositifs Electroniques
2 INL - Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon
3 INL - MFN - INL - Matériaux Fonctionnels et Nanostructures
4 INL - Photonique - INL - Nanophotonique
5 INL - Nanolyon - INL - Plateforme Technologique Nanolyon
6 MATEIS - Matériaux, ingénierie et science [Villeurbanne]

The mechanical switching of ferroelectric domains is achieved in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin films obtained by the sol-gel method for thicknesses up to 200 nm. The dielectric polarization can be switched when a force higher than a given threshold value in the order of some microNewtons is applied with the tip of an atomic force microscope. This threshold is determined as a function of the thickness of the films, and local hysteresis loops are recorded under mechanical stress. The possibility of switching the polarisation in such unusually thick films is related to the existence in their volume of physical nanoscale defects, which might play the role of pinning centers for the domains.

Mots clés: PFM - Piezoresponse Force Microscopy; Ferroelectric; lead zirconate titanate thin films; Ferroelectric domains

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Matériaux; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Sergio Gonzalez Casal, Xiaofei Bai, Kevin Alhada‐lahbabi, Bruno Canut, Bertrand Vilquin, et al.. Mechanical Switching of Ferroelectric Domains in 33‐200 nm‐Thick Sol‐Gel‐Grown PbZr 0.2 Ti 0.8 O 3 Films Assisted by Nanocavities. Advanced Electronic Materials, 2022, pp.2200077. ⟨10.1002/aelm.202200077⟩. ⟨hal-03662877⟩