Effect of laser-ablation process parameters and post-annealing treatment on ferroelectric PZT thin films

Abstract

A pulsed XeCl-excimer laser with a wavelength of 308 nm and pulse duration of 20 ns was used to ablate ferroelectric Nd-modified lead–zirconate–titanate (PNZT) ceramic targets (Pb 0.97Nd 0.02(Zr 0.55Ti 0.45)O 3) at various laser-beam fluences between 0.2 and 3.0 J/cm 2 using scanning laser-beam conditions. The growth rate of the PNZT thin film as a function of the number of laser pulses (or time) was measured with a quartz-crystal resonator. Otherwise, the average growth rate of the films on the sapphire and MgO substrates as a function of the laser-beam fluence was determined by measuring the maximum film thickness after deposition. The spatial distribution of the film thickness was also measured. The structure and composition of the thin films were studied as a function of the laser-beam fluence and post-annealing temperature between 600 and 900°C with X-ray diffraction measurements together with SEM and EDS analyses.