Thermodynamics of nanodomain formation and breakdown in Scanning Probe Microscopy: Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire approach

Abstract

Thermodynamics of tip-induced nanodomain formation in scanning probe microscopy of ferroelectric films and crystals is studied using the Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach. The local redistribution of polarization induced by the biased probe apex is analyzed including the effects of polarization gradients, field dependence of dielectric properties, intrinsic domain wall width, and film thickness. The polarization distribution inside subcritical nucleus of the domain preceding the nucleation event is very smooth and localized below the probe, and the electrostatic field distribution is dominated by the tip. In contrast, polarization distribution inside the stable domain is rectangular-like, and the associated electrostatic fields clearly illustrate the presence of tip-induced and depolarization field components. The calculated coercive biases of domain formation are in a good agreement with available experimental results for typical ferroelectric materials. The microscopic origin of the observed domain tip elongation in the region where the probe electric field is much smaller than the intrinsic coercive field is the positive depolarization field in front of the moving counter domain wall. For infinitely thin domain walls local domain breakdown through the sample depth appears. The results obtained here are complementary to the Landauer-Molotskii energetic approach.

35 pages, 8 figures, suplementary attached, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. B

References in corpus (7)

• Probing the role of single defects on the thermodynamics of electric-field induced phase transitions
• Piezoresponse Force Spectroscopy of Ferroelectric Materials
• Domain Nucleation and Hysteresis Loop Shape in Piezoresponse Force Spectroscopy
• The Piezoresponse Force Microscopy of surface layers and thin films: effective response and resolution function
• The Interaction of an 180 degree Ferroelectric Domain Wall with a Biased Scanning Probe Microscopy Tip: Effective Wall Geometry and Thermodynamics in Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire Theory
• Domain Dynamics in Piezoresponse Force Microscopy: Quantitative Deconvolution and Hysteresis Loop Fine Structure
• Local Polarization Switching in the Presence of Surface Charged Defects: Microscopic Mechanisms and Piezoresponse Force Spectroscopy Observations

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