TY - JOUR
KW - Transmission electron microscopy
KW - Nanostructured materials
KW - Polarization
KW - Ferroelectric materials
KW - Ferroelectricity
KW - Ferroelectric domains
KW - High resolution transmission electron microscopy
KW - Electrostatic boundary conditions
KW - Ferroelectric distortion
KW - Finite dimensional systems
KW - Nanoscale polarization
KW - Particle morphologies
KW - Structural distortions
KW - Temperature polarization
AU - M.J Polking
AU - M.-G Han
AU - A Yourdkhani
AU - V Petkov
AU - C.F Kisielowski
AU - V.V Volkov
AU - Y Zhu
AU - G Caruntu
AU - A. Paul Alivisatos
AU - Ramamoorthy Ramesh
AB - Ferroelectricity in finite-dimensional systems continues to arouse interest, motivated by predictions of vortex polarization states and the utility of ferroelectric nanomaterials in memory devices, actuators and other applications. Critical to these areas of research are the nanoscale polarization structure and scaling limit of ferroelectric order, which are determined here in individual nanocrystals comprising a single ferroelectric domain. Maps of ferroelectric structural distortions obtained from aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, combined with holographic polarization imaging, indicate the persistence of a linearly ordered and monodomain polarization state at nanometre dimensions. Room-temperature polarization switching is demonstrated down to ∼5 nm dimensions. Ferroelectric coherence is facilitated in part by control of particle morphology, which along with electrostatic boundary conditions is found to determine the spatial extent of cooperative ferroelectric distortions. This work points the way to multi-Tbit/in 2 memories and provides a glimpse of the structural and electrical manifestations of ferroelectricity down to its ultimate limits. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
BT - Nature Materials
DO - 10.1038/nmat3371
LA - eng
M1 - 8
N1 - cited By 187
N2 - Ferroelectricity in finite-dimensional systems continues to arouse interest, motivated by predictions of vortex polarization states and the utility of ferroelectric nanomaterials in memory devices, actuators and other applications. Critical to these areas of research are the nanoscale polarization structure and scaling limit of ferroelectric order, which are determined here in individual nanocrystals comprising a single ferroelectric domain. Maps of ferroelectric structural distortions obtained from aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, combined with holographic polarization imaging, indicate the persistence of a linearly ordered and monodomain polarization state at nanometre dimensions. Room-temperature polarization switching is demonstrated down to ∼5 nm dimensions. Ferroelectric coherence is facilitated in part by control of particle morphology, which along with electrostatic boundary conditions is found to determine the spatial extent of cooperative ferroelectric distortions. This work points the way to multi-Tbit/in 2 memories and provides a glimpse of the structural and electrical manifestations of ferroelectricity down to its ultimate limits. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PB - Nature Publishing Group
PY - 2012
SP - 700
EP - 709
T2 - Nature Materials
TI - Ferroelectric order in individual nanometre-scale crystals
VL - 11
SN - 14761122
ER -