K. Noda et al., Molecular ferroelectricity of vinylidene fluoride oligomer investigated byatomic force microscopy, JPN J A P 1, 40(6B), 2001, pp. 4361-4364
Nanometer-scale electrical properties of local ferroelectric domains formed
in thin films of newly synthesized vinylidene fluoride (VDF) oligomer were
investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Local poling and observatio
n of the piezoelectric response revealed that the polarized domains were re
versibly formed and erased in a nanometer-thick film by applying dc or puls
e voltages between the electrically conductive AFM tip and the bottom elect
rode. The formed domain size depends on the pulse poling conditions and inc
reases when the magnitude and the duration of a pulse voltage are increased
. A local domain with a diameter of 65 nm was successfully created. The res
ults in this work are comparable to those of previous studies performed on
ferroelectric polymer thin films, suggesting that this material is one of t
he promising candidates for ferroelectric applications such as high-density
data storages, and for molecular controls of ferroelectric properties.