Effect of Nb doping on preferential orientation, phase transformation behavior and electrical properties of PbZrO3 thin films

Abstract

Undoped and Nb-doped (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9mol%) PbZrO3 antiferroelectric thin films were deposited on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by using a sol–gel method. All the thin films had a perovskite phase structure and exhibited a distinct preferential orientation, phase transformation behavior and electrical properties, due to the effect of Nb doping. On the extent of Nb dopant, orientation of the films was changed from (100) to (111) gradually. Meanwhile, with increasing Nb content, a gradual change from AFE to ferroelectric at room temperature was observed. Dielectric constant as a function of Nb content was also reported. The dielectric constant increased with Nb content up to 7mol% and then decreased at 9mol% Nb. Dielectric loss remained quite low (less than 0.05) in the whole frequency or voltage ranges.