Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO3 by ion beam milling

Morelli, A., Johann, F., Schammelt, N., McGrouther, D. and Vrejiou, I. (2013) Mask assisted fabrication of nanoislands of BiFeO3 by ion beam milling. Journal of Applied Physics, 113(15), Art. 154101. (doi: 10.1063/1.4801904)

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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Copyright 2013 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics, 113(15):154101 (2013); and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801904
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McGrouther, Dr Damien
• Authors: Morelli, A., Johann, F., Schammelt, N., McGrouther, D., and Vrejiou, I.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Kelvin Nanocharacterisation Centre
• Research Group: MCMP
• Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics
• Journal Abbr.: JAP
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• ISSN: 0021-8979
• ISSN (Online): 1089-7550
• Published Online: 15 April 2013
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC
• First Published: First published in Journal of Applied Physics 113(15):154101
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher