Abstract：The traditional imprint characterization of ferroelectric thin films estimates imprint time dependence of the mean coercive voltage of all domains from a polarization-voltage hysteresis loop, which shows a semilogarithmic time dependence above an initial imprint time of $\tau _{0}> 1$ μs at room temperature. Below $\tau _{0}$, the imprint effect is believed to be weak. In consideration of region-by-region domain reversal under a rising pulsed voltage with ordered coercive voltages increasing from zero up to the maximum applied voltage during capacitor charging time, we can estimate the imprinted coercive voltage of each domain from domain switching current transient separately with imprint time as short as 20 ns. In disagreement with the previous observations, all imprinted coercive voltages for the domains in Pt/Pb(Zr$_{0.4}$Ti$_{0.6})$O$_{3}$/Pt thin-film capacitors show step-like increases at two characteristic times of 300 ns and 0.27 s. The imprint effect is surprisingly strong enough even at shortened time down to 20 ns without any evidence of weakening.
2016, Vol. 33 
