Phase evolution and effect of pre-heating temperature on the characteristics of PZT thin films grown by using a triol sol - Gel route

Abstract

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films were fabricated on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/ Si(100) using the triol sol - gel method. The effect of the pre-heating temperature on the phase transformations, microstructures, electrical properties and ferroelectric properties of the PZT thin films was investigated. Randomly-oriented PZT thin films pre-heated at 400C for 10 min and annealed at 600C for 30 min showed well-defined ferroelectric hysteresis loops with a remanent polarization of 26.57 C cm-2 and a coercive field of 115.42 kV cm-1. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the PZT films were 621 and 0.0395, respectively. The microstructures of the thin films are dense, crack-free and homogeneous with fine grains about 15-20 nm in size.