Microstructural Characterization of Ferroelectric Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO3) Ceramic by Electron Backscattered Diffraction

Abstract

Ferroelectric BiFeO3 (BFO) is potential candidate for future generation of FeRAM due to its large polarization. However, BFO is very sensitive to secondary phase formation during synthesis because of volatility issues related to Bismuth. Investigation of the microstructure for phase purity is the key as impurities can destroy the desired properties. We have used backscattered electron diffraction to study the microstructure of BFO ceramic. The EBSD results provide a direct evidence of the appearance of secondary phase that XRD could not be detected in XRD.