Nanoscale Ferroelectrics

Ferroelectrics are among the most advanced materials for non-volatile storage applications. Their two thermodynamically equivalent groundstates of spontaneous polarization can be toggled between by an external electric field. We present recent progress in the fabrication, registration, manipulation and characterization of nanoscale ferroelectrics. Chemical solution deposition is adapted to a pre-registration process by e-beam lithography to fabricate registered ferroelectric nanostructures below 100 nm width. A post-processing by chemical mechanical polishing either for embedded or free grains modifies the aspect ratio thus controlling the coercive field distribution of nanoferroelectrics. We also discuss some very recent findings of the complex interaction of field and piezoelectric tensor in a real piezoresponse force microscope. This method requires a comprehensive treatment of all contributions to tell apart extrinsic from intrinsic effects.