Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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KFM: Fachverband Kristalline Festkörper und deren Mikrostruktur

KFM 2: Ferroelectric Domain Walls I (joint session KFM/TT)

KFM 2.3: Talk

Monday, March 12, 2018, 10:15–10:30, EMH 225

Local control of chemical structure in a functional oxide — •Donald M. Evans¹, Theodor S. Holstad¹, Aleksander B. Mosberg², Per-Erik Vullum², Didrik Småbråten¹, Sverre Selbach¹, Antonius T. J. Van Helvoort², and Dennis Meier¹ — ¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTNU, Norway — ²Department of Physics, NTNU, Norway

Since the suggestion to use ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) in nanoelectronics, there has been a great deal of research into their properties. The most obvious use of DWs with enhanced conductivity was as nano-wires. But more recently, research is moving towards using the DW as the functional element within a circuit, e.g. as a switch or diode. This approach could allow whole circuit elements to be replaced by a single sub nanometre wide object - an option with clear technological potential. Attractive as this concept is, the research is still in its embryonic stage with many unanswered questions, not least, how to connect these DW circuit elements. In this work, we demonstrate how an atomic force microscope (AFM) can be used to change the functional properties locally: that is, we can use an AFM to write conducting strips on demand with all the position and control associated with AFM techniques. This is demonstrated on a hexagonal manganite (ErMnO₃) and foreshadows the possibility to interconnect functional DWs into nanoscale circuits. To better understand this ability to locally control functional properties, these modified regions were analysed with both TEM, and EELS.