No Arabic abstract
Conductive ferroelectric domain walls--ultra-narrow and configurable conduction paths, have been considered as essential building blocks for future programmable domain wall electronics. For applications in high density devices, it is imperative to explore the conductive domain walls in small confined systems while earlier investigations have hitherto focused on thin films or bulk single crystals, noting that the size-confined effects will certainly modulate seriously the domain structure and wall transport. Here, we demonstrate an observation and manipulation of conductive domain walls confined within small BiFeO3 nano-islands aligned in high density arrays. Using conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM), we are able to distinctly visualize various types of conductive domain walls, including the head-to-head charged walls (CDWs), zigzag walls (zigzag-DWs), and typical 71{deg} head-to-tail neutral walls (NDWs). The CDWs exhibit remarkably enhanced metallic conductivity with current of ~ nA order in magnitude and 104 times larger than that inside domains (0.01 ~ 0.1 pA), while the semiconducting NDWs allow also much smaller current ~ 10 pA than the CDWs. The substantially difference in conductivity for dissimilar walls enables additional manipulations of various wall conduction states for individual addressable nano-islands via electrically tuning of their domain structures. A controllable writing of four distinctive states by applying various scanning bias voltages is achieved, offering opportunities for developing multilevel high density memories.
The manipulation of geometrically constrained magnetic domain walls (DWs) in nanoscale magnetic strips has attracted much interest recently, with proposals for prospective memory and logic devices. Here we propose to use the high controllability of the motion of geometrically constrained DWs for the manipulation of individual nanoparticles on a chip with an active control of position at the nanometer scale. The proposed method exploits the fact that magnetic nanoparticles in solution can be captured by a DW, whose position can be manipulated with nanometric accuracy in a specifically designed magnetic nanowire structure. We show that the high control over DW nucleation, displacement, and annihilation processes in such structures can be used to capture, transport and release magnetic nanoparticles. As magnetic particles with functionalized surfaces are commonly used as molecule labels in several applications - including single molecule manipulation, separation, cells manipulation and biomagnetic sensing, the accurate control over the handling of the single magnetic nanoparticles becomes crucial as it may reflect the handling of the single molecules. The approach described here opens the path to the implementation and design of nano-transport lines, with application to single molecule study and lab-on-chip devices. In perspective, the easy integration on chip with sensors of domain walls and particles will allow for the realization of programmable circuits for molecular manipulation with continuous control of the desired process.
We study the magnetic properties of nanometer-sized graphene structures with triangular and hexagonal shapes terminated by zig-zag edges. We discuss how the shape of the island, the imbalance in the number of atoms belonging to the two graphene sublattices, the existence of zero-energy states, and the total and local magnetic moment are intimately related. We consider electronic interactions both in a mean-field approximation of the one-orbital Hubbard model and with density functional calculations. Both descriptions yield values for the ground state total spin, $S$, consistent with Liebs theorem for bipartite lattices. Triangles have a finite $S$ for all sizes whereas hexagons have S=0 and develop local moments above a critical size of $approx 1.5$ nm.
The conductive domain wall (CDW) is extensively investigated in ferroelectrics, which can be considered as a quasi-two-dimensional reconfigurable conducting channel embedded into an insulating material. Therefore, it is highly important for the application of ferroelectric nanoelectronics. Hitherto, most CDW investigations are restricted in oxides, and limited work has been reported in non-oxides to the contrary. Here, by successfully synthesizing the non-oxide ferroelectric Sn2P2S6 single crystal, we observed and confirmed the domain wall conductivity by using different scanning probe techniques which origins from the nature of inclined domain walls. Moreover, the domains separated by CDW also exhibit distinguishable electrical conductivity due to the interfacial polarization charge with opposite signs. The result provides a novel platform for understanding electrical conductivity behavior of the domains and domain walls in non-oxide ferroelectrics.
Domain boundaries in ferroelectric materials exhibit rich and diverse physical properties distinct from their parent materials and have been proposed for novel applications in nanoelectronics and quantum information technology. Due to their complexity and diversity, the internal atomic and electronic structure of domain boundaries that governs the electronic properties as well as the kinetics of domain switching remains far from being elucidated. By using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S) combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we directly visualize the atomic structure of domain boundaries in two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric beta In2Se3 down to the monolayer limit and reveal a double-barrier energy potential of the 60{deg} tail to tail domain boundaries for the first time. We further controllably manipulate the domain boundaries with atomic precision by STM and show that the movements of domain boundaries can be driven by the electric field from an STM tip and proceed by the collective shifting of atoms at the domain boundaries. The results will deepen our understanding of domain boundaries in 2D ferroelectric materials and stimulate innovative applications of these materials.
Phase-field simulations demonstrate that the polarization order-parameter field in the Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire model of rhombohedral ferroelectric BaTiO3 allows for an interesting linear defect, stable under simple periodic boundary conditions. This linear defect, termed here as Ising line, can be described as about 2 nm thick intrinsic paraelectric nanorod acting as a highly mobile borderline between finite portions of Bloch-like domain walls of the opposite helicity. These Ising lines play the role of domain boundaries associated with the Ising-to-Bloch domain wall phase transition.