The local piezoelectric activity of thin polymer films observed by scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

Here we present first measurements of the local piezoelectric activity of thin vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (VDF-TrFE) copolymer films with a spatial resolution of about 10 nm. The average value of the piezoelectric constant d33 is −0.03 nm/V varying typically by about 20% across a distance of 10 nm depending on the poling state of the film.