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Unconventional Ferroelectric Switching via Local Domain Wall Motion in Multiferroic $\epsilon$-Fe2O3 Films by Guan, Xiangxiang; Yao, Lide; Rushchanskii, Konstantin Z.; Inkinen, Sampo; Yu, Richeng; Ležaić, Marjana; Sánchez, Florencio; Gich, Martí; van Dijken, Sebastiaan is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Unconventional Ferroelectric Switching via Local Domain Wall Motion in Multiferroic $\epsilon$-Fe2O3 Films about?

Deterministic polarization reversal in ferroelectric and multiferroic films is critical for their exploitation in nanoelectronic devices. While ferroelectricity has been studied for nearly a century, major discrepancies in the reported values of coercive fields and saturation polarization persist in literature for many materials. This raises questions about the atomic-scale mechanisms behind polarization reversal. Unconventional ferroelectric switching in $\epsilon$-Fe2O3 films, a material that combines ferrimagnetism and ferroelectricity at room temperature, is reported here. High-resolution in-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) experiments and first-principles calculations demonstrate that polarization reversal in $\epsilon$-Fe2O3 occurs around pre-existing domain walls only, triggering local domain wall motion in moderate electric fields of 250 - 500 kV/cm. Calculations indicate that the activation barrier for switching at domain walls is nearly a quarter of that corresponding to the most likely transition paths inside $\epsilon$-Fe2O3 domains. Moreover, domain walls provide symmetry lowering, which is shown to be necessary for ferroelectric switching. Local p

Author

Guan, Xiangxiang; Yao, Lide; Rushchanskii, Konstantin Z.; Inkinen, Sampo; Yu, Richeng; Ležaić, Marjana; Sánchez, Florencio; Gich, Martí; van Dijken, Sebastiaan

Published

2019

Language

EN