ZENG Huarong1 LIU Liming1,2 ZHAO Kunyu1 LI Guorong1 YIN Qingrui1

(1 Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050)

(2 Kunming Institute of Physics Kunming 650223)

Received Oct. 27, 2009

Revised Apri. 19, 2010

Abstract Low-frequency (below 100 kHz, even down to several hundred Hz) near-field scanning probe acoustic microscopy (SPAM) was successfully developed based on the commercial atomic force microscope, providing a subsurface depth profile information and as well as nanoscale spatial resolution up to several nm. SPAM was successfully used to image locally domain configurations of ferroelectric materials and subsurface structures of other materials.Ferroelectric domain structures and the buried structures were clearly visualized by scanning probe acoustic microscopy. The acoustic imaging origin is discussed in terms of interaction between the excited acoustic wave and local structures beneath the SPAM tip. It is expected that the scanning probe acoustic microscopy in application to ferroelectrics and other materials undoubtedly enrich our understanding the nature of ferroelectricity and elasticity at submicro-,even nano-meter scale.

PACS numbers:68.37,77.80,07.79