Hydrodynamics of Domain Walls in Multiferroics: Impact on Memory Devices

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nonequilibrium hydrodynamic behaviors of domain walls in multiferroic materials like PZTFT, revealing complex structures that could affect the performance of ferroelectric memory devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates that domain switching in certain multiferroics is highly nonequilibrium and draws analogies to fluid instabilities, providing new insights into domain dynamics.

Findings

Domain walls exhibit circular or parabolic structures.

Switching dynamics resemble fluid instabilities.

Potential impact on ferroelectric memory reliability.

Abstract

We show that switching in ferroelectric lead germanate and lead iron tantalate zirconate titanate (PZTFT) does not resemble the equilibrium domain structure evolution of the Landau-Lifshitz-Kittel model but is instead highly nonequilibrium and similar, respectively, to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in liquids and the Helfrich-Hursault sliding instability in liquid crystals. The resulting nano-domain structures in PZTFT are circular or parabolic and involving folding bifurcations. These may have an undesirable impact on ferroelectric thin-film memoriesthat are also ferroelastic.