Domain Switching Kinetics in Disordered Ferroelectric Thin Films

We investigated domain kinetics by measuring the polarization switching behaviors of polycrystalline Pb(Zr,Ti)O$_{3}$ films, which are widely used in ferroelectric memory devices. Their switching behaviors at various electric fields and temperatures could be explained by assuming the Lorentzian distribution of domain switching times. We viewed the switching process under an electric field as a motion of the ferroelectric domain through a random medium, and we showed that the local field variation due to dipole defects at domain pinning sites could explain the intriguing distribution.