About switching of polarization in a thin ferroelectric film

Abstract

By using the Ginzburg–Landau theory in the nonlinear case, the shape of the inverse domain nucleus in a thin ferroelectric film in a weak electric field is determined. The dependencies of the critical size of the inverse domain nucleus on the film thickness, the strength of external electric field, the temperature and the parameter [Formula: see text], which determines the polarization pinning at the film planes, are calculated. We have established that when the parameter [Formula: see text] increases above a certain critical value, which depends on film thickness and external field strength, the polarization switches uniformly without domain formation. In the framework of Zeldovich theory of nucleation, the average repolarization velocity has been determined as a function of the film thickness, the external field strength and the parameter [Formula: see text].