Epitaxial growth of PbZr0.5Ti0.5O3 thin films on SrRuO3/SrTiO3 substrates using chemical solution deposition: Microstructural and ferroelectric properties

Abstract

Epitaxial PbZr0.5Ti0.5O3 (PZT) thin films were grown on top of a SrRuO3 epitaxial electrode layer on a (100) SrTiO3 substrate by the chemical solution deposition method at various temperatures. The microstructure of the PZT thin films was investigated by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, and the ferroelectric properties were measured using the Ag/PZT/SRO capacitor structure. In the PZT thin film annealed at low temperature (450 °C/1h), both the perovskite PZT phase at the film/substrate interface and the fluorite PZT phase in the upper region of the film were obtained. It exhibited nonferroelectric properties. The PZT thin film annealed at temperature as low as 525 °C had only a perovskite tetragonal phase and the epitaxial orientational relationship of (001)[010]PZT∥(001)[010]SRO∥(001)[010]STOwith the substrate, and shows a ferroelectric property. The remnant (Pr) and saturation polarization (Ps) density of the sample annealed at 600 °C/1h were measured to be Pr ˜ 51.4 μC/cm2 and Ps ˜ 62.1 μC/cm2 at 5 V, respectively. The net switched polarization dropped only to 98% of its initial value after 7 × 108 fatigue cycles.