Quantitative Nanometer-Scale Mapping of Dielectric Tunability

Two scanning probe microscopy techniquesnear-field scanning microwave microscopy (SMM) and piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM)-are used to characterize and image tunability in a thin (Ba,Sr)TiO3 film with nanometer scale spatial resolution. While sMIM allows direct probing of tunability by measurement of the change in the dielectric constant, in PFM, tunability can be extracted via electrostrictive response. The near-field microwave imaging and PFM provide similar information about dielectric tunability with PFM capable to deliver quantitative information on tunability with a higher spatial resolution close to 15 nm. This is the first time, information about the dielectric tunability is available on such length scales.