The first fundamental studies of the dependence of ferroelectric domain
configuration and switching behavior on the shape of epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO)
nanostructures has been reported by users from Northwestern University, Korea
Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, and Argonne’s Materials
Science Division working collaboratively with CNM’s Nanofabrication & Devices
Group. The nanostructures were produced by growing BFO films on SrRuO3
(SRO) (001) oriented electrode layers on single-crystal SrTiO3 (STO) (100)
substrates. Shapes were fabricated using rf-magnetron sputtering deposition
followed by focused ion-beam lithography. Domain configuration was investigated
using piezoelectric force microscopy, revealing that the square-shaped nanostructures
have a single variant domain configuration, whereas the round-shaped nanostructures
exhibit seven variants of domain configuration. The results have implications
for the development of nanocapacitors for gigabyte to terabyte nonvolatile
ferroelectric memories.
S. Hong, J. Klug, M. Park,A. Imre, M. Bedzyk, K. No, A.
Petford-Long, and O. Auciello, J. Appl. Phys., 105,
061619 2009
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is an Office of Science User Facility operated for
the U.S.Department of Energy Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory
;