Ferroelectric and piezoelectric characteristics of epitaxial BiFeO3 films sputtered on different oxide bottom electrodes

Abstract

Different oxide bottom electrodes, SrRuO3, (La0.5Sr0.5)CoO3, LaNiO3, were used to grow epitaxial BiFeO3 films via magnetron sputtering. All films showed a good (00 l)-orientation and a coexistence of major rhombohedral (R) and minor tetragonal (T) phases. A notable modification of these electrodes on films’ electrical properties and piezoelectric morphologies were demonstrated. Among them, the BiFeO3 film with SrRuO3 electrode exhibited a saturated polarization (∼80 μC/cm2), a lower leakage current (≤5.2 × 10-4 A/cm2) and loss (<0.08), particularly a prominent piezoelectric response. The differences in electrical properties of BiFeO3 films were discussed.