In-plane polarization switching of highly crystalline vinylidene fluoride oligomer thin films

The ferroelectric properties of perpendicularly oriented, highly crystalline vinylidene fluoride (VDF) oligomer thin films were investigated by using a planar device configuration consisting of comblike Cr-Au electrodes with a 1 µm gap. In-plane polarization switching was induced by the rotation of the VDF oligomer. As the measurement temperature was increased from 295 to 380 K, the coercive field (Ec) decreased drastically from 124 to 7.7 MV/m. Furthermore, the thermal stability of our device significantly improved compared with that of conventional sandwiched devices utilizing VDF oligomer films with a parallel orientation.