SIZE EFFECTS IN THERMOFLUCTUATIONAL FERROELECTRIC SWITCHING

Two types of size effects characteristic of the processes of thermoactivated motion of domain walls in ferroelectrics have been examined. One of these pertains to the relationship between the size of the critical nucleus and the thickness of the crystal, while the other has to do with that between the nucleus size and the thickness of the domain wall. Both effects show up in the changes occurring in the character of the field dependence of the activation energy and, consequently, of the domain wall motion velocity and the switching time.