Ferroelectric domain scaling and switching in ultrathin BiFeO3films deposited on vicinal substrates

We report on electrically switchable polarization and ferroelectric domain scaling over a thickness range of 5–100 nm in BiFeO 3 films deposited on [110] vicinal substrates. The BiFeO 3 films of variable thickness were deposited with SrRuO 3 bottom layer using the pulsed laser deposition technique. The domains are engineered into preferentially oriented patterns due to substrate vicinality along the [110] direction. The domain width scales closely with the square root of film thickness, in agreement with the Landau–Lifschitz–Kittel (LLK) law. Switching spectroscopy piezo-response force microscopy provides clear evidence for the ferroelectric switching behavior in all the films.