${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ is an incipient ferroelectric that is believed to exhibit a prototype displacive, soft mode ferroelectric transition when subjected to mechanical stress or alloying. We use high-angle annular dark-field imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy to reveal local polar regions in the room-temperature, paraelectric phase of strained ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ films, which undergo a ferroelectric transition at low temperatures. These films contain nanometer-sized domains in which the Ti columns are displaced. In contrast, these nanodomains are absent in unstrained films, which do not become ferroelectric. The results show that the ferroelectric transition of strained ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ is an order-disorder transition. We discuss the impact of the results on the nature of the ferroelectric transition of ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$.

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• Phase transitions
• Ferroelectrics
• Scanning transmission electron microscopy