Surface potential of ferroelectric domain investigated by kelvin force microscopy

Abstract

We have investigated the surface potential of poled area by varying the poled size and the sign of applied voltage on 100 nm thick Pb(Zr0.25Ti0.75)O3 films grown by chemical solution deposition using Kelvin force microscopy (KFM). In the negative poled area, as the poled size increases from 300 to 4800 nm, the domain size and the KFM contrast increased in a linear way. However, in the positive poled area, the KFM contrast increased at first and then didn’t increase because of Coulomb repulsion. In two opposite poled areas, the values of the KFM contrast differed because of the internal field near the ferroelectric/electrode interface. These results imply that the surface overcharge of poled area in ferroelectric materials should be increased and the ferroelectric/electrode interface should be improved for the ultra high-density memory device.