Domain engineering for enhanced ferroelectric properties of epitaxial (001) BiFeO thin films

The ferroelastic domain variant selection in (001) BiFeO3 films on miscut (001) SrTiO3 substrates with coherent SrRuO3 bottom electrodes and its effect on the ferroelectric properties of the films were reported. This study showed an improvement in the ferroelectric switching behavior and leakage current in BiFeO3 films applying domain engineering. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), reciprocal space mapping (RSM), and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) used in the study showed that miscut substrate directed the step-flow growth and two-variant stripe domains in the BiFeO3 films. The preferential distortion of unit cells and the complete step-flow growth induced by the substrate anisotropy created two-variant stripe domains in (001) BiFeO3 films. Domain engineering can be used for growing high-quality BiFeO3 films on cubic (001) Si substrates for device applications.