Hall mobilities and sheet carrier densities in a single LiNbO$_3$ conductive ferroelectric domain wall

Abstract

For the last decade, conductive domain walls (CDWs) in single crystals of the uniaxial model ferroelectric lithium niobate (LiNbO$_3$, LNO) have shown to reach resistances more than 10 orders of magnitude lower as compared to the surrounding bulk, with charge carriers being firmly confined to sheets of a few nanometers in width. LNO thus currently witnesses an increased attention since bearing the potential for variably designing room-temperature nanoelectronic circuits and devices based on such CDWs. In this context, the reliable determination of the fundamental transport parameters of LNO CDWs, in particular the 2D charge carrier density $n_{2D}$ and the Hall mobility $\mu_{H}$ of the majority carriers, are of highest interest. In this contribution, we present and apply a robust and easy-to-prepare Hall-effect measurement setup by adapting the standard 4-probe van-der-Pauw method to contact a single, hexagonally-shaped domain wall that fully penetrates the 200-$\mu$m-thick LNO bulk single crystal. We then determine $n_{2D}$ and $\mu_{H}$ for a set of external magnetic fields $B$ and prove the expected cosine-like angular dependence of the Hall voltage. Lastly, we present photo-Hall measurements of one and the same DW, by determining the impact of super-bandgap illumination on the 2D charge carrier density $n_{2D}$.