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Domain Wall Conductivity In Semiconducting Hexagonal Ferroelectric Tbmno3 Thin Films, D. J. Kim, J. G. Connell, S. S. A. Seo, Alexei Gruverman

Alexei Gruverman Publications

Although enhanced conductivity of ferroelectric domain boundaries has been found in BiFeO₃ and Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ films as well as hexagonal rare-earth manganite single crystals, the mechanism of the domain wall conductivity is still under debate. Using conductive atomic force microscopy, we observe enhanced conductance at the electrically-neutral domain walls in semiconducting hexagonal ferroelectric TbMnO₃ thin films where the structure and polarization direction are strongly constrained along the c-axis. This result indicates that domain wall conductivity in ferroelectric rare-earth manganites is not limited to charged domain walls. We show that the observed conductivity in the TbMnO₃ films is …