Nanoscale mechanical softening of morphotropic BiFeO3

Abstract

Mechanical switching can be used to form phase-transformed areas in mixed-phase bismuth ferrite thin films, which might be exploited to yield various soft elastic areas with greatly reduced Young's modulus on the nanoscale. Due to the mechanically susceptible nature of morphotropic phase boundaries in multiferroics, combined elastic control of electronic, magnetic, and ferroelectric properties becomes possible.

Keywords: elastic properties; ferroelectrics; morphotropic phase boundary; multiferroics; phase transitions.