Scanning probe-based tomography and stress-mediated functionalities in ferroelectrics

These functionalities arise from the property of spontaneous polarisation, switchable through an electric field. Besides electric field, functional properties in ferroelectric materials can be controlled through stress or mechanical boundary conditions.

For instance, its phase-transition temperature, coercive bias and domain microstructure have been shown to alter under various stress regimes. The advancement of scanning probe microscopy has allowed for in situ studies of stress-induced behavior in ferroelectrics, where high stress can be applied through atomic probes while simultaneously capturing responses. Parallelly, significant effort is directed towards exploring the use of these atomic probes to machine nanostructures on material surfaces by applying stress beyond the fracture point, which reveals properties hidden within the material—a technique known as Tomographic-Atomic Force Microscopy (T-AFM).