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Long-range ordered domain walls in MBE-grown BiFeO<sub>3</sub> thin films and manipulation of their electrical properties

ORAL

Abstract

Multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films can allow electrical control of magnetism at room temperature and potentially magnetic control of electric polarization. We have investigated the use of adsorption-controlled molecular-beam epitaxy to grow BiFeO3 thin films, as an alternative to the more commonly-used pulsed laser deposition or sputtering. We demonstrate unprecedentedly long-range domain periodicity of domain walls in commensurately strained BiFeO3/SrRuO3/DyScO3(110)o epitaxial heterostructures. We observe two domain variants under piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), which form alternating 140-nm-wide striped domains. Conductive AFM shows that the domain walls exhibit enhanced conductivity relative to the bulk and electrical rectification. For applications, ion irradiation can be used to reduce the through-film leakage without increasing the coercive field for ferroelectric switching. Doping with lanthanum is effective in reducing the strength of ferroelectric polarization, a necessary step to enable magnetic control of the polarization.

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Presenters

  • Yongjian Tang

    Cornell University, Department of Physics, Cornell University

Authors

  • Yongjian Tang

    Cornell University, Department of Physics, Cornell University

  • Antonio B Mei

    Cornell University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University

  • Jürgen Schubert

    Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-9)and Jara-Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Peter Grünberg Institute

  • Sahar Saremi

    University of California, Berkeley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

  • Ludi Miao

    Cornell University, Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University

  • Lane Wyatt Martin

    DMSE, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley

  • Darrell Schlom

    Cornell University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA, Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis, & Discovery of Interface Materials (PARADIM), Cornell University

  • Daniel Ralph

    Cornell University, Physics, Cornell University, Department of Physics, Cornell University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University