Ferroelectric domain structures of PbTiO₃studied by scanning force microscopy

The ferroelectric domain morphology of PbTiO 3 single crystals has been investigated at room temperature by electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) and piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) in addition to atomic force microscopy (AFM). While EFM is shown to reveal 90° a - c -domains via susceptibility contrast and 180° c -domain walls via their stray fields, PFM is used to visualize and to write 180° c -domain patterns. Owing to stabilizing negative space charges provided by the n-type PbTiO 3 only negative written c -domains are stable against backswitching.