Pyroelectric characteristics of thin PbTiO3 and la-modified PbTiO3 films on platinum films for infrared sensors

Abstract

In this work, we grew lead titanate (PbTiO3) and La-modified PbTiO3 thin films on platinized silicon (Si(100)) substrates under controlled substrate temperature and ambient by a modified jet-vapor deposition (JVD) process described in this paper. The x-ray diffraction patterns obtained from these films showed a single-phase perovskite structure. We examined locally homogeneity and thickness of these films through the comparative use of laser Raman spectroscopy. We also collected Raman and x-ray data on pure PbTiO3, as well as prepared lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (54/46), and PZT (50/50) films using the JVD process. This paper discusses the temperature variations of the pyroelectric and dielectric properties of three compositions of La-modified PbTiO3 films containing 5.2% to 15% of La, respectively, with a view toward studying the effect of La in place of Pb on these electrical properties. We detected significant pyroelectric currents on all three La-modified PbTiO3 films before performing poling treatments, and observed pyroelectric coefficeints as high as 84 nC/cm2·°C in the poled La-doped PbTiO3 films containing 5.2% La. The pyroelectric coefficient and dielectric constant varied significantly with La content. We compared the calculated figures of merit, which were based on the measured physical properties, with pure PbTiO3 as well as PZT and lead lanthanide zirconate titanate (PLZT) films. These properties just described illustrate that these films would be suitable for IR detectors.