TY - JOUR
KW - Atomic force microscopy
KW - Domain walls
KW - Ferroelectric materials
KW - Ferroelectricity
KW - Ferroelectric domains
KW - High resolution transmission electron microscopy
KW - Electronic structure
KW - Electrostatic potentials
KW - Electronic conductivity
KW - Local electronic structures
KW - Conductive atomic force microscopy
KW - Density functional computations
KW - Device application
KW - Nanoscale features
AU - J Seidel
AU - L.W Martin
AU - Q He
AU - Q Zhan
AU - Y.-H Chu
AU - A Rother
AU - M.E Hawkridge
AU - P Maksymovych
AU - P Yu
AU - M Gajek
AU - N Balke
AU - S.V Kalinin
AU - S Gemming
AU - F Wang
AU - G Catalan
AU - J.F Scott
AU - N.A Spaldin
AU - J Orenstein
AU - Ramamoorthy Ramesh
AB - Domain walls may play an important role in future electronic devices, given their small size as well as the fact that their location can be controlled. Here, we report the observation of room-temperature electronic conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls in the insulating multiferroic BiFeO 3. The origin and nature of the observed conductivity are probed using a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles density functional computations. Our analyses indicate that the conductivity correlates with structurally driven changes in both the electrostatic potential and the local electronic structure, which shows a decrease in the bandgap at the domain wall. Additionally, we demonstrate the potential for device applications of such conducting nanoscale features.
BT - Nature Materials
DO - 10.1038/nmat2373
LA - eng
M1 - 3
N1 - cited By 800
N2 - Domain walls may play an important role in future electronic devices, given their small size as well as the fact that their location can be controlled. Here, we report the observation of room-temperature electronic conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls in the insulating multiferroic BiFeO 3. The origin and nature of the observed conductivity are probed using a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles density functional computations. Our analyses indicate that the conductivity correlates with structurally driven changes in both the electrostatic potential and the local electronic structure, which shows a decrease in the bandgap at the domain wall. Additionally, we demonstrate the potential for device applications of such conducting nanoscale features.
PB - Nature Publishing Group
PY - 2009
SP - 229
EP - 234
T2 - Nature Materials
TI - Conduction at domain walls in oxide multiferroics
VL - 8
SN - 14761122
ER -