The role of substrates and environment in piezoresponse force microscopy: A case study with regular glass slides

TL;DR

This study investigates how substrates and environmental conditions, such as humidity, influence PFM measurements, revealing that non-ferroelectric materials like glass can exhibit ferroelectric-like signals under certain conditions.

Contribution

The paper highlights the impact of substrates and environment on PFM results, emphasizing that signals may not always indicate true ferroelectricity, which is crucial for accurate interpretation.

Findings

Glass slides can show ferroelectric-like signals without being ferroelectric.

Environmental factors like humidity affect PFM measurements.

Substrate choice influences the interpretation of PFM data.

Abstract

Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is a powerful tool for probing nanometer-scale ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. Hysteretic switching of the phase and amplitude of the PFM response are believed to be the hallmark of ferroelectric and piezoelectric behavior respectively. However, the application of PFM is limited by the fact that similar hysteretic effects may also arise from mechanisms not related to ferroelectricity or piezoelectricity. In this paper we report our studies on regular glass slides that show ferroelectric-like signal without being ferroelectric and frequently used as a substrate in PFM experiments. We demonstrate how the substrates and other environmental factors like relative humidity and experimental conditions may influence the PFM results on novel materials.