Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO3 by ion beam milling

A. Morelli; F. Johann; N. Schammelt; D. McGrouther; I. Vrejoiu

doi:10.1063/1.4801904

Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO₃ by ion beam milling

A. Morelli
, F. Johann
, N. Schammelt
, D. McGrouther
, I. Vrejoiu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report on a low-damage method for direct and rapid fabrication of arrays of epitaxial BiFeO₃ (BFO) nanoislands. An array of aluminium dots is evaporated through a stencil mask on top of an epitaxial BiFeO₃ thin film. Low energy focused ion beam milling of an area several microns wide containing the array-covered film leads to removal of the bismuth ferrite in between the aluminium-masked dots. By chemical etching of the remaining aluminium, nanoscale epitaxial bismuth ferrite islands with diameter ∼250 nm were obtained. Piezoresponse force microscopy showed that as-fabricated structures exhibited good piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, with polarization state retention of several days.

Original language	English
Article number	154101
Journal	Journal of Applied Physics
Volume	113
Issue number	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4801904
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 1 Apr 2013

Funding

Financial support by DFG through SFB 762 was gratefully acknowledged. One of the authors, D. McGrouther, would like to acknowledge financial support for this work by the European Union Framework 7 Programme, Grant Agreement No.: NMP3-LA-2010-246102, Interfacing Oxides (IFOX). FIG. 1. Schematic diagram of the procedure performed in order to fabricate BFO nanostructures. (a) Al evaporation through stencil mask over the BFO; (b) mask lift off resulting in an array of Al dots on the film; (c) ion beam milling, yielding BFO islands capped with Al; (d) Al chemical etching resulting in BFO nanoislands. FIG. 2. PFM imaging of the array of BFO islands: (a) topography, VPFM (b) phase and (c) amplitude, and LPFM (d) phase and (e) amplitude. Image size is 4.5 μ m × 4.5 μ m. Color coding for VPFM (LPFM) phase images displays bright contrast meaning vertical (lateral) polarization component pointing outwards (leftwards) the image. PFM modulation voltage with amplitude of 1 V at 25 kHz frequency was applied for imaging. FIG. 3. PFM imaging of one single BFO island: (a)topography, (b) line profile, VPFM (c) phase and (d) amplitude, and LPFM (e) phase and (f) amplitude. Image size is 500 nm × 500 nm. Color coding for VPFM (LPFM) phase images displays bright contrast meaning vertical (lateral) polarization component pointing outwards (leftwards) the image. PFM modulation voltage with amplitude of 1 V at 25 kHz frequency was applied for imaging. FIG. 4. (a) Local remanent piezoresponse hysteresis plots as resulting from measurements performed on an island (triangles) and on an area of the parent film (squares). Retention measurements on an island: (b) topography, (c)VPFM phase after poling a 300 nm × 300 nm area by applying −3 V DC from the AFM tip, and (d) VPFM phase three days later. Image size is 500 nm × 500 nm. Color coding for VPFM phase images displays bright contrast meaning vertical polarization component pointing outwards the image. PFM modulation voltage with amplitude of 0.5 V at 25 kHz frequency was applied for imaging.

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10.1063/1.4801904

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title = "Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO3 by ion beam milling",

abstract = "We report on a low-damage method for direct and rapid fabrication of arrays of epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoislands. An array of aluminium dots is evaporated through a stencil mask on top of an epitaxial BiFeO3 thin film. Low energy focused ion beam milling of an area several microns wide containing the array-covered film leads to removal of the bismuth ferrite in between the aluminium-masked dots. By chemical etching of the remaining aluminium, nanoscale epitaxial bismuth ferrite islands with diameter ∼250 nm were obtained. Piezoresponse force microscopy showed that as-fabricated structures exhibited good piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, with polarization state retention of several days.",

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AU - Morelli, A.

AU - Johann, F.

AU - Schammelt, N.

AU - McGrouther, D.

AU - Vrejoiu, I.

PY - 2013/4/1

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N2 - We report on a low-damage method for direct and rapid fabrication of arrays of epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoislands. An array of aluminium dots is evaporated through a stencil mask on top of an epitaxial BiFeO3 thin film. Low energy focused ion beam milling of an area several microns wide containing the array-covered film leads to removal of the bismuth ferrite in between the aluminium-masked dots. By chemical etching of the remaining aluminium, nanoscale epitaxial bismuth ferrite islands with diameter ∼250 nm were obtained. Piezoresponse force microscopy showed that as-fabricated structures exhibited good piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, with polarization state retention of several days.

AB - We report on a low-damage method for direct and rapid fabrication of arrays of epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoislands. An array of aluminium dots is evaporated through a stencil mask on top of an epitaxial BiFeO3 thin film. Low energy focused ion beam milling of an area several microns wide containing the array-covered film leads to removal of the bismuth ferrite in between the aluminium-masked dots. By chemical etching of the remaining aluminium, nanoscale epitaxial bismuth ferrite islands with diameter ∼250 nm were obtained. Piezoresponse force microscopy showed that as-fabricated structures exhibited good piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, with polarization state retention of several days.

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DO - 10.1063/1.4801904

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JF - Journal of Applied Physics

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ER -

Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO₃ by ion beam milling

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