The electric field rising time $t_r$ is frequently overlooked in ultrafast ferroelectric switching studies, despite its critical role in switching dynamics and mechanism discrimination. Using stochastic phase-field simulations of ${\text{BaTiO}}_3$, we systematically investigate $t_r$ effects on four switching mechanisms identified in our prior work [Wen et al., Phys. Rev. B 108, 134114 (2023)]. Our results reveal distinct mechanism-dependent behaviors: $t_r$ acts as a temporal offset in the Smoluchowski-diffusion mechanism, suppresses inertial switching in the relaxation-control mechanism, and drives a transition from field-driven to thermally assisted in the ultrafast-switching mechanism. By decoupling rising-time-induced relaxation, we extract the intrinsic switching time and show that $t_r$ can significantly alter extracted Merz's law parameters ($t_0, E_a$). This work establishes $t_r$ as a pivotal control parameter and underscores its essential incorporation into both experimental characterization and theoretical modeling of ultrafast ferroelectric switching.

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• Electric polarization
• Ferroelectric phase transition
• Stochastic thermodynamics
• Ferroelectrics
• Phase-field modeling