Improvement in D-E Hysteresis Curve Squareness of PZT Thin Films—Effect of Oxygen Partial Pressure in High-Pressure Post-Annealing

Abstract

A high-pressure annealing was applied to a post-annealing process for sol-gel derived PZT thin films. The squareness of D-E hysteresis curves changes depending on both total pressure and oxygen concentration. Moreover, the change follows the product of the total pressure and the oxygen concentration, which correspond to oxygen partial pressure PO2. Where the PO2 is higher than 0.03 MPa, few of the squareness of the hysteresis curve are excellent. The squareness of the hysteresis curves dramatically improve as the PO2 decreases. Where the PO2 is lower than 0.01 MPa, the squareness deteriorates slightly. These changes in the D-E hysteresis curves are thought to be explained by the generation of lead and oxygen vacancies as a function of the PO2.