The effect of annealing on improving the quality of lead zirconate titanate thin films on Pt/SiO 2/Si substrates

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of different annealing conditions on the structures of PZT thin films. At a RF power of 100 W, a substrate of 350°C and an Ar flow rate of 20 sccm (0.0094 m 3/s), an amorphous PZT thin film is deposited. After annealing properly, a high quality structure and orientation-selective perovskite phase PZT thin film is constructed. When the annealing temperature is lower, the PZT thin films become a pyrochlore phase. However, when the annealing temperature is higher than 700°C, the PZT thin films become a perovskite phase. With the increase of annealing temperature, the quality of the PZT thin films also becomes better. At the annealing temperature of 750°C, the count proportion of (1 1 0) orientation is the highest and the FWHM of the (1 1 0) peak is the lowest. However, too high an annealing temperature leads to the over-volatilization of PbO, which lowers the quality of the PZT thin films. Furthermore, the proper annealing time to construct the PZT thin films with optimal structure is 5 min. Experimentally, at the annealing temperature of 750°C and for the annealing time of 5 min, perovskite PZT thin films with good quality structure can be constructed.