Ferroelastic domain switching dynamics under electrical and mechanical excitations.
In thin film ferroelectric devices, switching of ferroelastic domains can significantly enhance electromechanical response. Previous studies have shown disagreement regarding the mobility or immobility of ferroelastic domain walls, indicating that switching behaviour strongly depends on specific microstructures in ferroelectric systems. Here we study the switching dynamics of individual ferroelastic domains in thin Pb(Zr0.2,Ti0.8)O3 films under electrical and mechanical excitations by using in situ transmission electron microscopy and phase-field modelling. We find that ferroelastic domains can be effectively and permanently stabilized by dislocations at the substrate interface while similar domains at free surfaces without pinning dislocations can be removed by either electric or stress fields. For both electrical and mechanical switching, ferroelastic switching is found to occur most readily at the highly active needle points in ferroelastic domains. Our results provide new insights into the understanding of polarization switching dynamics as well as the engineering of ferroelectric devices.
1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA [2].
Peng
P
Gao
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Jason
J
Britson
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Christopher T
CT
Nelson
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Jacob R
JR
Jokisaari
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Chen
C
Duan
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Morgan
M
Trassin
of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Seung-Hyub
SH
Baek
National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Hua
H
Guo
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Linze
L
Li
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Yiran
Y
Wang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Ying-Hao
YH
Chu
1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Andrew M
AM
Minor
of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Chang-Beom
CB
Eom
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Ramamoorthy
R
Ramesh
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Long-Qing
LQ
Chen
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Xiaoqing
X
Pan