Fabrication and characterization of intergrown Bi 4Ti 3O 12-based thin films using a metal-organic precursor solution

Abstract

Ferroelectric intergrowth-structured Bi 4Ti 3O 12-based thin films have been fabricated by chemical solution deposition. Bi 4Ti 3O 12–SrBi 4Ti 4O 15 (BiT–SBTi) and SrBi 2Nb 2O 9–Bi 4Ti 3O 12 (SBN–BiT) precursor films crystallized in the desired intergrown BiT–SBTi and SBN–BiT structures on Pt/TiO x /SiO 2/Si substrates by optimizing the processing conditions. Synthesized BiT–SBTi and SBN–BiT thin films exhibited ferroelectric P– E hysteresis loops. The BiT–SBTi thin films crystallized at 750 °C showed a 2 P r value approximately 20 μC/cm 2. Although a little smaller P r value was observed for the SBN–BiT thin films, the squareness of a P– E hysteresis loop was superior to that of BiT–SBTi thin films. Also, the SBN–BiT thin films had a smoother surface morphology compared with BiT–SBTi thin films.