Ferroelectric properties of highly c-oriented epitaxial Bi2WO6 thin films

Bi2WO6 (BWO) thin films were epitaxially deposited onto single crystal Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates via pulsed laser deposition (PLD). To control the growth mode of the BWO thin films, the deposition rate was varied from 0.01 to 0.4 nm/pulse. The BWO thin films yielded an island growth mode during a rapid deposition rate of 0.4 nm/pulse. On the other hand, a layer-by-layer growth mode was achieved with a low deposition rate of 0.01 nm/pulse. We could obtain highly c-oriented epitaxial BWO thin films by means of the layer-by-layer mode. Piezoresponse force microscopy revealed that the highly c-oriented epitaxial BWO thin films possessed spontaneous polarizations that were perpendicular to the c-axis.