Polarization reversal anti-parallel to the applied electric field observed using a scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy

It is well known that spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric material is an intrinsic property applied for nonvolatile memory devices. Poling direction can be reversed in a nanometer size area using the conductive cantilever of a scanning probe microscope. In order to detect nanodots patterns, scanning nonlinear dielectric microscope (SNDM) is superior to piezore-sponse microscope in terms of resolution. In this paper, a real-time measuring method of a poling direction is proposed. Using this method, the domain reversal process was observed and an unexpected phenomenon was found , namely, that the poling directions were aligned antiparallel to the poling electric field. This antiparallel poling reversal took place when the film thickness was more than 350 nm in the case of lithium tantalate. At present, the reason and mechanism of the antiparallel poling reversal are uncertain, although it might be related to the concentrated electric field near the cantilever tip.