Mapping nanoscale domain patterns in ferroelectric ceramics by atomic force acoustic microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy

In this paper, nanoscale domain patterns of ferroelectric ceramics were investigated by both piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) and atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) in the same scanning area. The domain patterns imaged by both the single-frequency AFAM and resonance-tracking AFAM are comparable to that by PFM. Meanwhile, using AFAM, the subsurface domain structures can be observed and quantitative nanomechanical mapping of domains was also realized. Finally, we suggest that PFM plus AFAM should be the best choice for characterization of ferroelectric domains.