Decoupling indirect topographic cross-talk in band excitation piezoresponse force microscopy imaging and spectroscopy

Sang Mo Yang (1) , Lucie Mazet (2) , M. Baris Okatan (1) , Stephen Jesse (1) , Gang Niu (3) , Thomas Schroeder (3) , Sylvie Schamm-Chardon (4) , Catherine Dubourdieu (5) , Arthur P. Baddorf (1) , Sergei V. Kalinin (1)

1 CNMS - Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences [Oak Ridge]
2 INL - H&N - INL - Hétéroepitaxie et Nanostructures
3 IHP - Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics
4 CEMES-MEM - Matériaux et dispositifs pour l'Electronique et le Magnétisme
5 INL - Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon

All scanning probe microscopies are subjected to topographic cross-talk, meaning the topography-related contrast in functional images. Here, we investigate the signatures of indirect topographic cross-talk in piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) imaging and spectroscopy and its decoupling using band excitation (BE) method in ferroelectric BaTiO3 deposited on the Si substrates with free standing nanopillars of diameter 50 nm. Comparison between the single-frequency PFM and BE-PFM results shows that the measured signal can be significantly distorted by topography-induced shifts in the contact resonance frequency and cantilever transfer function. However, with proper correction, such shifts do not affect PFM imaging and hysteresis loop measurements. This suggests the necessity of an advanced approach, such as BE-PFM, for detection of intrinsic sample piezoresponse on the topographically non-uniform surfaces. © 2016 Author(s).

Mots clés: Barium compounds; Scanning probe microscopy; Band excitations; Contact resonance; Ferroelectric BaTiO; Functional images; Hysteresis loop measurements; Measured signals; Piezoresponse force microscopy; Single frequency; Crosstalk

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Sang Mo Yang, Lucie Mazet, M. Baris Okatan, Stephen Jesse, Gang Niu, et al.. Decoupling indirect topographic cross-talk in band excitation piezoresponse force microscopy imaging and spectroscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 2016, 108 (25), pp.252902 - 252902. ⟨10.1063/1.4954276⟩. ⟨hal-01720447⟩