Permanent charged domain walls under tip-poling engineering

Abstract

Charged domain walls (CDWs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their tunable properties related to high-density information storage and nanoelectronics devices. The excellent time endurance of conductivity is a pressing need, which is directly related to the domain stability and boundary conditions. In this study, we propose an effective method to promote the permanent formation of charged domain walls aimed with tip-induced electric fields. The permanent domain structures and CDWs are attributed to the robust stimulus with tip dimensions combined with effective screening conditions. This interesting conductivity near the domain walls is three orders of magnitude higher than the domain inner, and exhibits attractive anti-fatigue properties with the value of ∼60 pA for the duration of more than one month. In addition, the tunable mechanism of CDWs in LiNbO₃ thin films is related to carrier gathering near the domain walls for the inclined boundary. These inclined head-to-head domain walls exhibit conductive features only along the negative direction, which can be modulated by the application of a sub-coercive voltage. The results demonstrate the stable manipulation of domain reversal and charged domain walls in LiNbO₃ thin films, highlighting them as a critical component, especially for multiple-state logic circuits and potential ferroelectric diode applications in non-volatile memories and nanoelectronics devices.