Polarization reversal and backswitching dynamics in epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films

Abstract

Polarization switching dynamics in polydomain epitaxial barium titanate (BaTiO3) thin films were investigated over the temperature range of 293–363K. To determine domain dynamics, the transient response of the linear electro-optic effect was measured as a function of bias field under pulsed excitation and temperature. Upon removal of the bias pulse, domain backswitching is observed, which is described by the Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts (KWW) extended exponential function in time. From the KWW kinetic parameter ⟨τ⟩ and its temperature and field dependences, the activation field and nucleation energy for polarization reversal are determined. The measured thermal energy barrier for nucleation is in the range of 0.1eV–0.3eV and decreases with the electric field. These values are in good agreement with those recently obtained in molecular dynamics simulation studies of domain nucleation and growth in BaTiO3.

Temperature-dependent R-curve behavior of Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3

“…Similarly, we have demonstrated that the coercive stress measured during compressive stress loading decreases with temperature. Likewise, an increase in temperature lowers the energy barrier for domain back-switching and reduces the back-switching time, which results in a temperatureand stress-dependent decrease in the effective transformation strain [55,56], as depicted in Fig. 10.…”

Influence of various sintering parameters and the temperature dependent scaling on the dynamic hysteresis behavior of Ba0.9Ca0.05Sr0.05T0.85Zr0.15O3 ceramics

“…The activation energy for the sample sintered at 1450 °C yields 0.107, 0.119, 0.124, 0.118, respectively, under the application of different electric field of 18 kV/cm. The low value of activation energy may be attributed to the fact that enhancement of charge carriers helps to jump between localized states which results in decrease in electrical activation energy with an increase in frequency (Zhong et al , 2004; Li et al , 2009; Zhang et al , 2011). Figure 11 shows the temperature dependence of P s - P r for different time interval for the sintered samples at 1450 °C.…”

Polarization Domain Dynamics of Barium Titanate Ultrathin Films Using Piezoresponse Force Microscopy.

“…There have been several recent studies of ferroelectric polarization domain formation under an applied electric field [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] , many of which have focused on the application of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) to both form and probe polarization domains [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . In the PFM technique, the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) makes contact with a thin film at a specific point and applies an electric potential across a thin film using the AFM tip as one electrode and the back side of the sample as the second electrode (Fig.…”