Manipulating the ferroelectric polarization state of BaTiO 3 thin films

Sukanya Datta (1) , Maxime Rioult (1) , Dana Stanescu (1) , Hélène Magnan (1) , Antoine Barbier (1)

1 LNO - Laboratoire Nano-Magnétisme et Oxydes

Controlling the ferroelectric polarization at macroscopic or microscopic levels is crucial in the framework of the development of ferroelectric materials used in yet challenging photo-electrochemical (PEC) cells and spintronic applications. We report here on polarization methods allowing to electrically polarize prototypical samples of BaTiO 3 (001) films. Epitaxial single crystalline layers were grown up to a thickness of 25 nm by atomic oxygen assisted molecular beam epitaxy on 1 at.% Nb doped SrTiO 3 (001) single crystals. The samples were both microscopically and macroscopically polarized using Piezoresponse Force Microscopy and electrochemical poling in an electrolyte respectively. In addition we demonstrate the possibility to retrieve a quasi-native mixed ferroelectric polarization state after annealing. These polarization methods may be applied to many other ferroelectric thin films.

Keywords: Ferroelectric thin films; Macroscopic polarization; Microscopic polarization; Atomic oxygen molecular beam epitaxial method (AO-MBE); Piezo response and atomic force microscopy (PFM and AFM); Annealing; Overcurrent

Domains: Physics [physics]

Sukanya Datta, Maxime Rioult, Dana Stanescu, Hélène Magnan, Antoine Barbier. Manipulating the ferroelectric polarization state of BaTiO 3 thin films. Thin Solid Films, 2016, 607, pp.7. ⟨10.1016/j.tsf.2016.03.059⟩. ⟨cea-01369284⟩