Distinct ferroelectric domain switching dynamics in epitaxial BiFeO3 (001) capacitors depending on the bias polarity

Abstract

Understanding ferroelectric domain switching dynamics at the nanoscale is a great of importance in the viewpoints of fundamental physics and technological applications. Here, we investigated the intriguing polarity-dependent switching dynamics of ferroelectric domains in epitaxial BiFeO3 (001) capacitors using transient switching current measurement and piezoresponse force microscopy. We observed the distinct behavior of nucleation and domain wall motion depending on the polarity of external electric bias. When applying the negative bias to the top electrode, the sideways domain wall motion initiated by only few nuclei was dominant to polarization switching. However, when applying the positive bias, most of domains started to grow from the pre-existed pinned domains and their growth velocity was much smaller. We suggest that the observed two distinct domain switching behavior is ascribed to the interfacial defect layer.