Nanoscale electromechanical phenomena in ferroelectric thin films

Focused ion beam milling was used to fabricate ferroelectric islands in Pb-Zr-Ti-O thin films. The islands ranged in size from 200μm×200μm to 0.3μm×0.3μm. The inverse piezoelectric effect was studied in these islands as a function of their size by tracking the surface displacement of the top electrode of the island (under an applied electric field) using an atomic force microscope (AFM). It was found that there was a substantial increase in the piezoresponse as the size of the island decreased below 100μm×100μm. This increase was attributed to the elastic deformation of the substrate. © 2001 Materials Research Society.