Nanoscale investigation of domain retention in preferentially oriented PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 thin films on Pt and on LaNiO3

Abstract

We report results on domain retention in preferentially oriented ${\mathrm{PbZr}}_{\mathrm{0.53}}{\mathrm{Ti}}_{\mathrm{0.47}}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{3}}$ (PZT) thin films on Pt and on ${\mathrm{LaNiO}}_{\mathrm{3}}$ (LNO) electrodes. Domain images are obtained by detecting an electrostatic force exerted on the biased conductive probe. We demonstrate that polarization loss of PZT domains on LNO electrodes occurs less under no external field rather than that of PZT on Pt. The time dependence of the remnant polarization is found to follow a stretched exponential decay.