Quantitative analysis of ferroelectric domain imaging with piezoresponse force microscopy

TL;DR

This paper presents a new quantitative analysis method for ferroelectric domain imaging using PFM, accounting for background effects, enabling accurate, frequency-independent contrast measurement aligned with expected piezoelectric deformation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis approach that considers experimental background, allowing for precise, frequency-independent quantification of ferroelectric domain contrast in PFM imaging.

Findings

The analysis aligns well with expected piezoelectric deformation values.

It achieves frequency-independent domain contrast measurement.

The method improves the accuracy of ferroelectric domain imaging.

Abstract

The contrast mechanism for ferroelectric domain imaging via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is investigated. A novel analysis of PFM measurements is presented which takes into account the background caused by the experimental setup. This allows, for the first time, a quantitative, frequency independent analysis of the domain contrast which is in good agreement with the expected values for the piezoelectric deformation of the sample and satisfies the generally required features of PFM imaging.