Nanoscale Investigation of Fatigue Effects in Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ Films

Authors

Alexei Gruverman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
O. Auciello, MCNC, Electronics Technologies Division, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
H. Tokumoto, JRCAT, NAIR, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

11-18-1996

Citation

Applied Physics Letters (November 1996) 69(21)

Comments

Copyright © 1996, American Institute of Physics. Used by permission

Abstract

Scanning force microscopy has been used to perform a comparative nanoscale study of domain structures and switching behavior of Pb(Zr_xTi_1-x)O₃ (PZT) thin films integrated into heterostructures with different electrodes. The study revealed a significant difference between polarization state of as-deposited PZT films on RuO₂ and Pt electrodes. The PZT/RuO₂ films exhibit polydomain crystallites and show almost symmetric switching behavior, while the PZT/Pt films are mainly in a single polarity state and exhibit highly asymmetric piezoelectric hysteresis loops. Formation of unswitchable polarization within the grains of submicron size as a result of fatigue process was directly observed.