Consequences of the background in piezoresponse force microscopy on the imaging of ferroelectric domain structures

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the inherent background in piezoresponse force microscopy affects the imaging of ferroelectric domains, highlighting its impact on contrast, boundary shape, and position, supported by experimental evidence.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of background effects in PFM imaging and demonstrates their influence through experimental results, offering insights for better interpretation.

Findings

Background influences domain contrast in PFM images

Experimental results confirm background impact on boundary shape

Background effects can cause contrast enhancement, nulling, or inversion

Abstract

The interpretation of ferroelectric domain images obtained with piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is discussed. The influences of an inherent experimental background on the domain contrast in PFM images (enhancement, nulling, inversion) as well as on the shape and the location of the domain boundaries are described. We present experimental results to evidence our analysis of the influence of the background on the domain contrast in PFM images.