Effect of Tb 3+ doping on the preferred orientation of lead titanate thin film prepared by sol–gel method on ITO/glass substrates

Abstract

Tb doped PbTiO 3 (PT) thin films were prepared on ITO/glass substrates by sol–gel method. XRD was used to investigate the phase status of the thin films. It is shown that through rapid thermal process, the perovskite phase PbTiO 3 thin films with highly (100) preferred orientation could be formed on the astatic ITO/glass substrates when Tb is doped into PbTiO 3 system. The (100) preferred orientation of Tb-doped PbTiO 3 films is attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation mechanism of the perovskite PbTiO 3 phase induced by Tb doping and rapid thermal preparation process. It is successfully explained according to this mechanism that the content of the (100) oriented Tb-doped perovskite phase in PbTiO 3 films varies with Tb doping concentration. An optimal doping concentration of Tb to achieve highly (100) oriented and well-crystallized PbTiO 3 films is discovered. And a theoretical equation of the perovskite phase content as a function of Tb doping concentration is deduced.