Control of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domains in BiFe_0.9Co_0.1O₃ thin films by utilizing trailing fields

Abstract The effect of in-plane “trailing fields” caused by the scanning motion of a biased cantilever on ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domains of a BiFe0.9Co0.1O3 thin film was investigated. BiFe0.9Co0.1O3 is applicable for an ultra-low power consumption nonvolatile magnetic memory device because the magnetization is reversible by an electric field. In-plane polarization reversal was induced by the trailing field, which was approximately 1/6 of the electric field necessary for the polarization reversal using planar gap electrodes. The in-plane polarization direction of striped domain variants can be reversed by changing the slow scan direction of the cantilever keeping the bias voltage.