Investigations into local piezoelectric properties by atomic force microscopy

We describe nanoscale characterization of sol-gel produced ferroelectric thin films of lead–zirconate–titanate. We have performed quantitative localized measurements of surface polarization charge density using atomic force microscopy techniques in conjunction with electric field calculations. We show that domains with radii of 40 nm may by written and subsequently characterized, and we analyze the dependence of domain size on write voltage and write time, and show that surface contaminants influence the formation of domains.