Influence of anisotropic strain on the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of SrTiO3 thin films on DyScO3 substrates

The in-plane dielectric and ferroelectric properties of coherent anisotropically strained SrTiO3 thin films grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO3 substrates were examined as a function of the angle between the applied electric field and the principal directions of the substrate. The dielectric permittivity revealed two distinct maxima as a function of temperature along the [100](p) and [010](p) SrTiO3 pseudocubic directions. These data, in conjunction with optical second-harmonic generation, show that the switchable ferroelectric polarization develops first predominantly along the in-plane axis with the larger tensile strain before developing a polarization component along the perpendicular direction with smaller strain as well, leading to domain twinning at the lower temperature. Finally, weak signatures in the dielectric and second-harmonic generation response were detected at the SrTiO3 tilt transition close to 165 K. These studies indicate that anisotropic biaxial strain can lead to new ferroelectric domain reorientation transitions that are not observed in isotropically strained films.