LiTaO₃ Recording Media Prepared by Polarization Controlled Wet Etching Process

Abstract

Ferroelectric single crystal thin plates with large area and high homogeneity are required for ultrahigh-density storage media. A polarization controlled wet etching process was developed in this paper. The thickness of the crystal was controlled during the wet etching process by applying DC voltage to a substrate. A 455-nm-thick LiTaO₃ thin plate with a diameter of 3 mm was prepared using this method. Subsequently, nanodomains were artificially formed by applying voltage pulses to the substrate using a metal-coated cantilever top electrode. Additionally, evaluation of bit error rate was conducted using a 119-nm-thick LiTaO₃ recording medium.

Keywords:

• Ferroelectric data storage
• scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy
• LiTaO₃