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Nanoscale ferroelectrics and multiferroics are currently becoming the mainstream of the electronics, data storage and MEMS/NEMS areas. Using these materials in nano-, micro- and even macroscopic devices necessitates probing electromechanical (piezoelectric and electrostrictive) activity, static and dynamic domain configurations, polarization switching and degradation mechanisms on the nanoscale, as well as understanding the role of defects and structural confinement.
This Symposium will continue the Piezoresponse Force Microscopy Workshops successfully started in Oak Ridge (USA) and continued in Lausanne (Switzerland) and Oak Ridge (USA). It targets academia, engineering and research communities and provides both in-depth training course of Piezoresponse Force Microscopy complemented with a scientific conference discussing theoretical background, recent developments, and applications for studying nanoscale phenomena in ferroelectrics, multiferroics, bioobjects and other polar (ferro- or piezoelectric) materials.
The tutorial organized during first two days of Symposium will provide fundamentals of PFM operation, relevant instrumental details, and image and piezohysteresis interpretation. The basic theory of AFM operation including contact mechanics & cantilever dynamics, piezoresponse calculations, as well as their implications for qualitative and quantitative data interpretation in PFM, will be given. Tutorial lectures will be given by S. V. Kalinin (ORNL, USA), R. Garcia (Institute of Microelectronics, Spain), N. Pertsev (Ioffe Institute, Russia), M. Alexe (Max Planck Institute, Germany), A. Gruverman (Univ. of Nebraska, USA), E. Soergel (Univ. of Bonn, Germany) and A. Kholkin (Univ. of Aveiro, Portugal). The lectures will be followed by experimental work in the PFM laboratories equipped with modern PFM setups provided by Agilent, Asylum Research, NT-MDT, Park Systems, and Veeco.
Our final goal is to provide a basic understanding, practical implementation and solid background for PhD students, research scientists and application engineers who want to use this promising technique in their laboratories. The workshop will be accompanied by a three-day conference comprising invited, oral and poster presentations. In addition, invited talks will be submitted from selected abstracts. The topics of the conference include but not limited to:
1. Instrumental aspects of PFM and related techniques
2. Theory of PFM and similar methods
3. Novel ferroelectric phenomena by PFM
4. Multiferroicity and PFM
5. Piezonanoindentation
6. Disordered ferroelectrics and mesoscopic effects
7. Ferroelectric data storage and nanolithography
8. SNOM and Kelvin microscopy of ferroelectrics.
During the course of the Symposium, major AFM manufacturers will present their recent developments in the PFM area and give overviews of their PFM modules available commercially.
