TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wei, Xiankui
AU  - Yang, Yurong
AU  - McGilly, Leo J.
AU  - Feigl, Ludwig
AU  - Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal
AU  - Jia, Chun-Lin
AU  - Bellaiche, Laurent
AU  - Setter, Nava
TI  - Flexible polarization rotation at the ferroelectric/metal interface as a seed for domain nucleation
JO  - Physical review / B
VL  - 98
IS  - 2
SN  - 2469-9950
CY  - Woodbury, NY
PB  - Inst.
M1  - FZJ-2018-04613
SP  - 020102
PY  - 2018
AB  - The absence of a realistic polarization screening scenario at the pivotal ferroelectric-metal interface impedes the widespread application of low-dimensional ferroelectric heterostructures. Employing quantitative atom-resolved (scanning) transmission electron microscopy and first-principles calculations, we report that structural and chemical reconstruction universally lowers symmetry of the ferroelectric-metal interface. Irrespective of structural and strain mismatch, chemical termination and diffusion, polar catastrophe, and electrode type, the polarization screening is executed by a flexible polarization rotation at several-unit-cell-thick interfaces. By combining nanoscale and atomic-scale microscopy investigations, our ex situ electric-field biasing experiments reveal that the monoclinically distorted interfaces may act as seeds to nucleate new domains during the polarization switching process. These findings suggest that the long-standing fatigue issue is expected to be overcome by interface modification engineering at the monolayer scale.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000439973300001
DO  - DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.98.020102
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/850853
ER  -