Nano domain engineering using scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy

Scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM) is the first successful purely electrical method for observing ferroelectric domains. Its resolution has now reached the sub-nanometer order. In this paper, a fundamental study on application of the SNDM system to a ferroelectric reading and writing system is performed. First, to check the performance of the SNDM system as a ferroelectric recording system, we conduct a fundamental study on the writing of a domain inversion dot in a PZT thin film and succeed in achieving very small domain dots with a size of 25 nm. Next, we form small inverted domain dots in stoichiometric LiTaO₃ single crystals for the purpose of a basic investigation of domain dynamics in a very small area. The relationship between the voltage for domain reversal and the inverted area and the relationship between the inverted domain area and the voltage application time are obtained