Lee Eunmi, Ali Ahmed I, El Basaty A B, Son Jong Yeog
Energy New Industry Innovation Convergence College, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.
Basic Science Department, Faculty of Technology and Education, Helwan University, Saray‑El Qoupa, El Sawah Street, Cairo, 11281, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 19;15(1):30353. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87237-8.
Understanding and controlling the domain structures and their stability in ferroelectric thin films is crucial for advancing technologies such as energy storage, memory devices, and sensors. By optimizing domain behavior, it is possible to enhance the performance, efficiency, and reliability of ferroelectric-based systems in these applications. Here, we investigated the imprinted ferroelectric hysteresis loops and the imprinted ferroelectric domain structures of the PbTiO (PTO) multilayer thin films, including the oxygen depletion layer. The PTO multilayer thin films were made of a structure of DPTO/PTO/Pt/glass by PTO and PbTiO (DPTO) layers by pulsed laser deposition. When the thickness of the DPTO layer was increased to 0, 5, and 7.5 nm, it was observed that the imprint effects of the ferroelectric hysteresis loops of the PTO multilayer thin films increased significantly. Through the observation of ferroelectric domain structures via Piezoresponse force microscopy, it was confirmed that the imprinted ferroelectric hysteresis loops were favored in terms of free energy in one polarization direction. This emphatically verified the presence of imprinted ferroelectric domain structures. Our study offers new insights into the correlation between the thickness of the oxygen-deficient DPTO layer and the enhancement of imprinted ferroelectric hysteresis loops and domain structures in PbTiO₃ thin films. These findings propose a novel design strategy for optimizing ferroelectric properties to advance practical applications.
理解和控制铁电薄膜中的畴结构及其稳定性对于推进诸如能量存储、存储器件和传感器等技术至关重要。通过优化畴行为，可以提高基于铁电的系统在这些应用中的性能、效率和可靠性。在此，我们研究了包括氧耗尽层在内的PbTiO（PTO）多层薄膜的印记铁电滞回环和印记铁电畴结构。PTO多层薄膜由通过脉冲激光沉积的PTO和PbTiO（DPTO）层构成的DPTO/PTO/Pt/玻璃结构制成。当DPTO层的厚度增加到0、5和7.5纳米时，观察到PTO多层薄膜的铁电滞回环的印记效应显著增加。通过压电力显微镜观察铁电畴结构，证实了印记铁电滞回环在一个极化方向上在自由能方面是有利的。这有力地证实了印记铁电畴结构的存在。我们的研究为缺氧DPTO层的厚度与PbTiO₃薄膜中印记铁电滞回环和畴结构的增强之间的相关性提供了新的见解。这些发现提出了一种用于优化铁电性能以推进实际应用的新颖设计策略。
