Dynamics of surface screening charges on domains of BiFeO3 films

Abstract

The dynamics of surface screening charges on BiFeO3 films with pre-written stripe domains was studied with surface potential measurements by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy. The screening effect decays exponentially over time, and this decay is slower in the arrays with wider domains or larger intervals of domains, indicating that the in-plane diffusion of the surface screening charges plays a major role in the decay dynamics. The good agreement between experimental data and theoretical results based on diffusion-drift model confirms the mechanism of in-plane diffusion of the screening charges in the decay dynamics. Our work could provide a pathway to control the data stability of charge storage by artificially designing the ferroelectric domains.