Electric control of straight stripe conductive mixed-phase nanostructures in La-doped BiFeO3

Abstract

This study examines the atomic force microscope (AFM) tip-based electrical formation of tens of microns long stripe (and B100nm wide) inorganic one-dimensional nanostructures based on the morphotropic phase boundary of La-doped BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films. The substitution of Lanthanum into bismuth ferrite not only produces the formation of straight stripe mixedphase patterns but also improves the spatial continuity drastically by two orders of magnitude. We create, switch and erase stripe nanostructures in a reversible and deterministic way. We demonstrate that electrically formed areas with a nearly single variant alignment can be overwritten with different alignments repeatedly, which reflects the reversible and nonvolatile nature of the switching process. In addition, we explore the functionality of the created nanostructures by clarifying ferroelectric polarizations and observing the improvement of the electronic conduction at the phase boundary. Our findings provide new pathways to one-dimensional rewritable nanostructures and inspire researchers to conceive various multifunctional devices by combining the superb electromechanical property with their unique interfacial electronic conduction properties at nanoscale phase boundaries. © 2014 Nature Publishing Group.