Shear strain-induced anisotropic domain evolution in mixed-phase BiFeO3 epitaxial films
Han Xu,
Zuhuang Chen,
Xiaoyi Zhang,
Yongqi Dong,
Bin Hong,
Jiangtao Zhao,
Lang Chen,
Sujit Das,
Chen Gao,
Changgan Zeng,
Haidan Wen,
Zhenlin Luo
Affiliations
Han Xu
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Zuhuang Chen
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
Xiaoyi Zhang
X-Ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
Yongqi Dong
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Bin Hong
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Jiangtao Zhao
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Lang Chen
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Sujit Das
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
Chen Gao
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Changgan Zeng
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Haidan Wen
X-Ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
Zhenlin Luo
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory & CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Understanding and controlling the domain evolution under external stimuli in multiferroic thin films is critical to realizing nanoelectronic devices, including for non-volatile memory, data storage, sensors, and optoelectronics. In this article, we studied the shear-strain effect on the domain evolution with temperature in highly strained BiFeO3 thin films on rhombohedral LaAlO3 substrates using a high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction three dimensional-reciprocal space mapping (3D-RSM) technique. The results revealed significant biaxial, anisotropic, evolution behaviors of the mixed-phase (MC + R′/T′ phases) BiFeO3 ferroelectric domains along the in-plane [100] and [010] axes. These biaxial, anisotropic, evolution behaviors were attributed to the shear-strain-modulated transition pathways of the mixed-phase ferroelectric domains. This viewpoint was further verified in the BiFeO3/LaSrAlO4 (001) system in which no anisotropic evolution behaviors of the mixed-phase domains were found. This work sheds light on the quantitative analysis of domain evolution in multi-domain systems and demonstrates that the shear-strain effect could act as an effective tool to manipulate the domain behavior and control novel functionalities of ferroelectric thin films.
