Domain walls separating differently oriented polarization regions of ferroelectric materials are known to greatly impact nanoscale materials and device functionalities. Though the understanding of size effects in ferroelectric nanostructures has progressed, the effect of thickness downsizing on domain wall scaling behavior has remained unexplored. Using piezoresponse force microscopy, epitaxial BaTiO3 film thickness size (2-90 nm) effects on the critical scaling universality of the domain wall dynamical creep and static roughness exponents including dimensionality is demonstrated. Independently estimated static roughness exponents ranging between 0.34 and 0.28 and dynamical creep exponents transition from 0.54 to 0.22 elucidate the domain wall dimensionality transition from two- to quasi-one-dimension in the thickness range of 10-25 nm, which is later validated by evaluating effective dimensionality within the paradigm of random-bond universality. The observed interdimensional transition is further credenced to the compressive strain and long-range strain-dipolar interactions, as revealed by the structural analyses and additional measurements with modified substrate-induced strain. These results provide new insights into the understanding of size effects in nanoscale ferroelectricity, paving the way toward future nanodevices.
Keywords: creep dynamics; dimensionality; domain wall; ferroelectric; static roughness; ultrathin films.
© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.