High speed piezoresponse force microscopy: <1 frame per second nanoscale imaging

An atomic force microscopy (AFM) based technique is described for mapping piezoactuation with nanoscale resolution in less than a second per complete image frame. “High speed piezo force microscopy” (HSPFM) achieves this >100× increase in acquisition rates by coupling a commercial AFM with concepts of acoustics. This allows previously inaccessible dynamic studies, including measuring ferroelectric domain nucleation and growth during in situ poling. Hundreds of consecutive images are analyzed with 49 μs temporal resolution per pixel per frame, revealing 32 nucleation sites/μm2 with 36 μm/s average domain velocities. HSPFM images acquired in as fast as 1/10th s are also presented.