  Signal formation mechanism of Piezoresponse Force Microscopy of piezoelectric
surface layers and thin films on stiff and elastically matched substrates is
analyzed and thickness dependence of effective piezoelectric response, object
transfer function components and Rayleigh two-point resolution are derived.
Obtained exact series and simple Pade approximations can be applied for the
effective piezoresponse analytical calculations in the case of films capped on
different substrates. The effective piezoresponse is thickness dependent for
piezoelectric films on substrates with low dielectric permittivity (extrinsic
size effect), whereas the thickness dependence is essentially suppressed for
giant permittivity or metallic substrates. Thus implications of analysis for
ferroelectric data storage and device applications are discussed.
