A diode for ferroelectric domain-wall motion

For over a decade, controlling domain-wall injection, motion and annihilation along nanowires has been the preserve of the nanomagnetics research community. Revolutionary technologies have resulted, like racetrack memory and domain-wall logic. Until recently, equivalent research in analogous ferroic materials did not seem important. However, with the discovery of sheet conduction, the control of domain walls in ferroelectrics has become vital for the future of what has been termed ‘domain-wall electronics’. Here we report the creation of a ferroelectric domain-wall diode, which allows a single direction of motion for all domain walls, irrespective of their polarity, under a series of alternating electric field pulses. The diode’s sawtooth morphology is central to its function. Domain walls can move readily in the direction in which thickness increases gradually, but are prevented from moving in the other direction by the sudden thickness increase at the sawtooth edge. In ferromagnets, domain wall control is vital for applications like racetrack memory, whereas in ferroelectrics it could facilitate new electronics. Here, the authors demonstrate a diode for ferroelectric domain wall motion, where domain walls can move in one direction but not in the other.