Tip traveling and grain boundary effects in domain formation using piezoelectric force microscopy for probe storage applications

Tip traveling and grain boundary effects have been investigated by varying the voltage pulse width on Pb ( Zr 0.25 Ti 0.75 ) O 3 films using piezoelectric force microscopy. Depending on pulse width, the authors distinguish three regions of domain formation. It was found that grain boundaries act as electric shield, which prevents domain growth across grains. Domain growth across grains was mainly due to the tip traveling effect. Calculations based on the authors' model matched well with experimental data.