Scanning Electron Microscopy Observation of the Voltage Contrast Image of the Ferroelectric Domain Structure in the LiNbO3 Crystal

This paper reports a scanning electron microscopy study of the formation of the voltage contrast image of the ferroelectric domain structure in the LiNbO3 crystal. We investigated the formation of the pyroelectric voltage contrast image of the regular domain structure. For our experiment, we used ZY cut of a LiNbO3 crystal which had a regular domain structure with a domain width of -55 μm. The regular domain structure in the LiNbO3 crystal was formed by the method of thermo-electrical treatment after growth. The pyroelectric voltage contrast image of the regular domain structure in the scanning electron microscope was formed by applying the pyroelectric effect along polar axis Z. The difference in the voltage contrast in the neighboring domains connect with opposite directions of polar axis Z in the neighboring domains. It is shown that the voltage contrast of the ferroelectric domain structures is defined by the physical properties and orientation of the ferroelectric crystals