Tag: conductive AFM tip

Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy

Nano-piezoelectric materials such as 1D piezoelectric nanofibers, nanowires, and nanobelts have attracted a lot of research interest in recent years. *

Because of their active property that can transform strain energy into electricity, 1D piezoelectric nano-materials can be building blocks for nano-generators, strain sensors, acoustic sensors, force sensors, biosensors, self-powered drug delivery systems, piezoelectric transistors and other intelligent systems. *

The most important property of these active materials is their ability to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa. *

Therefore, researchers started developing nano-sized piezoelectric materials in hope of achieving better piezoelectric properties. *

The characterization of these piezoelectric properties, especially measuring the piezoelectric strain coefficients, remains a challenge. *

The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)-based method to directly measure nano-materials’ piezoelectric strain coefficients is widely used.

However, several factors such as the extremely small piezoelectric deformation, the influence from the parasitic electrostatic force, and the environmental noise can make the measurement results questionable. *

In the article “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” Guitao Zhang, Xi Chen, Weihe Xu, Wei-Dong Yao, and Yong Shi address these issues by introducing a resonant piezo-force microscopy method and describing how it was used to accurately measure the piezoelectric deformation from 1D piezoelectric nanofibers. *

During the measurement the AFM tip was brought into contact with the piezoelectric sample and set to work close to the AFM tip’s first resonant frequency. *

The AFM probe used in this test was a platinum iridium coated NanoWorld Arrow-CONTPt (typical force constant 0.2 N/m, typical resonant frequency 14 KHz. The PtIr coating makes the AFM tip conductive and at the same time enhances the laser reflection from the detector facing side of the AFM cantilever to the photodetector. *

A lock-in amplifier was used to pick up the sample’s deformation signal at the testing frequency. By using this technique, the piezoelectric strain constant d33 of the Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) nanofiber with a diameter of 76 nm was measured. The result showed that d33 of this PZT nanofiber was around 387 pm/V. Meanwhile, by tracking the piezoelectric deformation phase image, domain structures inside PZT nanofibers were identified. *

Figure 5 from “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” by Guitao Zhang et al. : Piezoelectric deformation amplitude image from a PZT nanofiber on a silicon dioxide substrate (a) and its cross-sectional view along the horizontal direction (b). Conductive NanoWorld Arrow-CONTPt AFM probes were used for the resonant piezo-force microscopy
Figure 5 from “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” by Guitao Zhang et al. :
Piezoelectric deformation amplitude image from a PZT nanofiber on a silicon dioxide substrate (a) and its cross-sectional view along the horizontal direction (b).

 

Figure 6 from “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” by Guitao Zhang et al. : (a) Piezoelectric deformation phase image from a PZT nanofiber on the silicon dioxide substrate and its 3D image (b). NanoWorld Arrow-CONTPt platinum iridium 5 coated AFM probes were used.
Figure 6 from “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” by Guitao Zhang et al. :
(a) Piezoelectric deformation phase image from a PZT nanofiber on the silicon dioxide substrate and its 3D image (b).

*Guitao Zhang, Xi Chen, Weihe Xu, Wei-Dong Yao and Yong Shi
Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy
AIP Advances 12, 035203 (2022)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0081109

The article “Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy” by Guitao Zhang, Xi Chen, Weihe Xu, Wei-Dong Yao and Yong Shi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering

HfO2-based films are important materials used in broad range of electronic applications from high-performance transistors and memory cells, to thermoelectric and energy harvesting elements. *

In the article “Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering” Leonid Bolotov, Shinji Migita, Ryouta Fujio, Manabu Ishimaru, Shogo Hatayama and Noriyuki Uchida described how they used scanning probe methods to make nanoscale comparison of chemical composition, surface morphology, the elastic modulus and the surface potential of bare 10-nm thick Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by a carbon-free sputtering process. *

NanoWorld conductive platinum iridium5 coated Pointprobe® EFM AFM probes were used for the electrostatic force microscopy (EFM). *

The composition mapping confirmed uniform distribution of Hf and Zr in the film along wafer size. Suppression of the monoclinic phase in films annealed at 600 – 800 °C had strong impact on spatial variations of film properties. Small surface roughness, large electric domain sizes (50–200 nm at 700 °C) and small fluctuations of the surface potential (40–50 meV) in Si coated with the films are appealing for gate-stack applications. Films annealed at 600-700 °C showed the elastic modulus of about 169 GPa and the ferroelectric polarization reversal at a field of ~1 MV/cm as observed by nanoscale poling with a Pt-coated scanning probe. In contrast, properties of films annealing at 800 °C were affected by growth of thick interfacial oxide layer. *

The nanoscale approach presented in the article is beneficial in optimizing of physical and mechanical properties of thin dielectric films. *

Fig. 3 from Leonid Bolotov et al. “Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering”: AFM topographs (a, c) and CPD maps (b, d) of 10 nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films on Si: as-grown film (a, b), and annealed at 700 °C (c, d). Rectangular shapes in (c, d) outline one domain. Scale bars are 200 nm. NanoWorld conductive platinum iridium5 coated Pointprobe® EFM AFM probes were used for the electrostatic force microscopy (EFM).
Fig. 3 from Leonid Bolotov et al. “Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering”:
AFM topographs (a, c) and CPD maps (b, d) of 10 nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films on Si: as-grown film (a, b), and annealed at 700 °C (c, d). Rectangular shapes in (c, d) outline one domain. Scale bars are 200 nm.

*Leonid Bolotov, Shinji Migita, Ryouta Fujio, Manabu Ishimaru, Shogo Hatayama and Noriyuki Uchida
Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering
Microelectronic Engineering, Volume 258, 1 April 2022, 111770
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2022.111770

Open Access The article “Impact of annealing on electric and elastic properties of 10-nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films prepared on Si by sputtering” by Leonid Bolotov, Shinji Migita, Ryouta Fujio, Manabu Ishimaru, Shogo Hatayama and Noriyuki Uchida is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films

Boron doped diamond (BDD) has great potential in electrical, and electrochemical sensing applications. The growth parameters, substrates, and synthesis method play a vital role in the preparation of semiconducting BDD to metallic BDD. Doping of other elements along with boron (B) into diamond demonstrated improved efficacy of B doping and exceptional properties.*

In the article “Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films” Srinivasu Kunuku, Mateusz Ficek, Aleksandra Wieloszynska, Magdalena Tamulewicz-Szwajkowska, Krzysztof Gajewski, Miroslaw Sawczak, Aneta Lewkowicz, Jacek Ryl, Tedor Gotszalk and Robert Bogdanowicz describe how B and nitrogen (N) co-doped diamond has been synthesized on single crystalline diamond (SCD) IIa and SCD Ib substrates in a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition process.*

The surface topography of the CVD diamond layers was investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) was employed to measure the contact potential difference (CPD) to calculate the work function of these CVD diamond layers.*

Atomic force microscopy topography depicted the flat and smooth surface with low surface roughness for low B doping, whereas surface features like hillock structures and un-epitaxial diamond crystals with high surface roughness were observed for high B doping concentrations. KPFM measurements revealed that the work function (4.74–4.94 eV) has not varied significantly for CVD diamond synthesized with different B/C concentrations.*

NanoWorld ARROW-EFM conductive platinumirdidium5 coated AFM probes with a typical spring constant of 2.8 N/m and a typical resonant frequency of 75 kHz were used.*

Figure 2 from “Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films “ by Srinivasu Kunuku et al: AFM topography of B/N co-doped CVD diamond on (with fixed N/C = 0.02) SCD IIa; (a) B/C ∼ 2500 ppm (b) B/C ∼ 5000 ppm (c) B/C ∼ 7500 ppm, and KPFM CPD images of B/N co-doped CVD diamond (with fixed N/C = 0.02) on SCD IIa; (d) B/C ∼ 2500 ppm (e) B/C ∼ 5000 ppm (f) B/C ∼ 7500 ppm. NanoWorld Arrow-EFM platinumiridium coated AFM probes were used for the KPFM and surface topography measurements.
Figure 2 from “Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films “ by Srinivasu Kunuku et al:
AFM topography of B/N co-doped CVD diamond on (with fixed N/C = 0.02) SCD IIa; (a) B/C ∼ 2500 ppm (b) B/C ∼ 5000 ppm (c) B/C ∼ 7500 ppm, and KPFM CPD images of B/N co-doped CVD diamond (with fixed N/C = 0.02) on SCD IIa; (d) B/C ∼ 2500 ppm (e) B/C ∼ 5000 ppm (f) B/C ∼ 7500 ppm.

*Srinivasu Kunuku, Mateusz Ficek, Aleksandra Wieloszynska, Magdalena Tamulewicz-Szwajkowska, Krzysztof Gajewski, Miroslaw Sawczak, Aneta Lewkowicz, Jacek Ryl, Tedor Gotszalk and Robert Bogdanowicz
Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films
Nanotechnology (2022),  33 125603
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ac4130

Please follow this external link to read the full article: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ac4130

Open Access The article “Influence of B/N co-doping on electrical and photoluminescence properties of CVD grown homoepitaxial diamond films” by Srinivasu Kunuku, Mateusz Ficek, Aleksandra Wieloszynska, Magdalena Tamulewicz-Szwajkowska, Krzysztof Gajewski, Miroslaw Sawczak, Aneta Lewkowicz, Jacek Ryl, Tedor Gotszalk and Robert Bogdanowicz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.