Structural control of self-assembled PbTiO3 nanoislands fabricated by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Self-assembled PbTiO3 nanoislands of three different shapes with orderly in-plane directions were fabricated on Pt∕SrTiO3 substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The shapes of the nanoislands were triangular-shaped (width 50–110nm, height 20–30nm), triangular-prism-shaped (width 50–110nm, length 100–550nm, height 10–30nm) and square-shaped (width 40–130nm, height 4–10nm) on Pt∕SrTiO3(111), (101), and (001), respectively. The PbTiO3 nanoislands were epitaxially grown on the Pt∕SrTiO3 substrates and consisted of {100} and {001} facets irrespective of the orientation of the substrates indicating that structural control of shape and in-plane direction of self-assembled PbTiO3 nanoislands can be achieved through epitaxial relations. The self-assembled PbTiO3 nanoislands with three different shapes were found to be ferroelectric by piezoresponse force microscopy.