High-resolution characterization of piezoelectric ceramics by ultrasonic scanning force microscopy techniques

The local elastic properties and the ferroelectric domain configuration of piezoelectric ceramics have been examined by atomic force acoustic microscopy and by ultrasonic piezoelectric force microscopy. The contrast mechanisms of the two techniques are discussed. From the local contact stiffness which is obtained by evaluation of the contact resonance spectra, the elastic constants of the sample surface can be calculated. In the case of anisotropic materials these elastic constants correspond to the indentation moduli. Indentation moduli for barium titanate and for a lead zirconate-titanate ceramics were calculated theoretically and are in reasonable agreement with experiments. The non-linearity of the tip–sample interaction becomes noticeable at large vibration amplitudes or large mechanical tip loads.