Local hysteresis and grain size effect in Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 thin films

The local piezoelectric properties of relaxor ferroelectric films of solid solutions 0.9Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.1PbTiO3 were investigated by scanning force microscopy (SFM) in a piezoelectric contact mode. The piezoelectric hysteresis loops were acquired in the interior of grains of different sizes. A clear correlation between the values of the effective piezoelectric coefficients, deff, and the size of the respective grains is observed. Small grains exhibit slim piezoelectric hysteresis loops with low remanent deff, whereas relatively strong piezoelectric activity is characteristic of larger grains. Part of the grains (∼20–25%) is strongly polarized without application of a dc field. The nature of both phenomena is discussed in terms of the internal bias field and grain size effects on the dynamics of nanopolar clusters.