Exploring Domain Wall Pinning in Ferroelectrics via Automated High Throughput AFM

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Barakati, Kamyar, Liu, Yu, Funakubo, Hiroshi, Kalinin, Sergei V.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Barakati, Kamyar
Liu, Yu
Funakubo, Hiroshi
Kalinin, Sergei V.
author_facet Barakati, Kamyar
Liu, Yu
Funakubo, Hiroshi
Kalinin, Sergei V.
contents Domain-wall dynamics in ferroelectric materials are strongly position-dependent since each polar interface is locked into a unique local microstructure. This necessitates spatially resolved studies of the wall-pinning using scanning-probe microscopy techniques. The pinning centers and preexisting domain walls are usually sparse within image plane, precluding the use of dense hyperspectral imaging modes and requiring time-consuming human experimentation. Here, a large area epitaxial PbTiO$_3$ film on cubic KTaO$_3$ were investigated to quantify the electric field driven dynamics of the polar-strain domain structures using ML-controlled automated Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. Analysis of 1500 switching events reveals that domain wall displacement depends not only on field parameters but also on the local ferroelectric-ferroelastic configuration. For example, twin boundaries in polydomains regions like a$_1^-$/$c^+$ $\parallel$ a$_2^-$/$c^-$ stay pinned up to a certain level of bias magnitude and change only marginally as the bias increases from 20V to 30V, whereas single variant boundaries like a$_2^+$/$c^+$ $\parallel$ a$_2^-$/$c^-$ stack are already activated at 20V. These statistics on the possible ferroelectric and ferroelastic wall orientations, together with the automated, high-throughput AFM workflow, can be distilled into a predictive map that links domain configurations to pulse parameters. This microstructure-specific rule set forms the foundation for designing ferroelectric memories.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_24062
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring Domain Wall Pinning in Ferroelectrics via Automated High Throughput AFM
Barakati, Kamyar
Liu, Yu
Funakubo, Hiroshi
Kalinin, Sergei V.
Materials Science
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
Applied Physics
Domain-wall dynamics in ferroelectric materials are strongly position-dependent since each polar interface is locked into a unique local microstructure. This necessitates spatially resolved studies of the wall-pinning using scanning-probe microscopy techniques. The pinning centers and preexisting domain walls are usually sparse within image plane, precluding the use of dense hyperspectral imaging modes and requiring time-consuming human experimentation. Here, a large area epitaxial PbTiO$_3$ film on cubic KTaO$_3$ were investigated to quantify the electric field driven dynamics of the polar-strain domain structures using ML-controlled automated Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. Analysis of 1500 switching events reveals that domain wall displacement depends not only on field parameters but also on the local ferroelectric-ferroelastic configuration. For example, twin boundaries in polydomains regions like a$_1^-$/$c^+$ $\parallel$ a$_2^-$/$c^-$ stay pinned up to a certain level of bias magnitude and change only marginally as the bias increases from 20V to 30V, whereas single variant boundaries like a$_2^+$/$c^+$ $\parallel$ a$_2^-$/$c^-$ stack are already activated at 20V. These statistics on the possible ferroelectric and ferroelastic wall orientations, together with the automated, high-throughput AFM workflow, can be distilled into a predictive map that links domain configurations to pulse parameters. This microstructure-specific rule set forms the foundation for designing ferroelectric memories.
title Exploring Domain Wall Pinning in Ferroelectrics via Automated High Throughput AFM
topic Materials Science
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24062