The effect of thickness on the dielectric properties of highly (111) oriented Pb(Zr 0.53Ti 0.47)O 3 thin films prepared by a simple sol–gel route

Abstract

Lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr 0.53Ti 0.47)O 3 (PZT) ferroelectric thin films of various thicknesses were grown on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO 2/Si(100) substrates by a simple sol–gel process, without reflux or high temperature distillation to remove water. The thin films were annealed at 550–600 °C in an oxygen atmosphere by rapid thermal annealing (RTA), and highly (111)-oriented PZT thin films have been obtained. The microstructure and surface morphologies of the thin films have studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images shown that the highly (111) oriented PZT thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO 2/Si substrates with grain sizes of 0.2–0.3 and 2–3 μm, and root mean square roughnesses of 0.92 and 34 nm, for PZT films with thicknesses of 0.3 and 0.56 μm, respectively. The remanent polarization ( P r) and coercive electric field ( E c) values were 32.2 μC/cm 2 and 79.9 kV/cm, 27.7 μC/cm 2 and 54.4 kV/cm; at 100 kHz, the dielectric constant and dissipation factor were 539 and 0.066, 821 and 0.029, respectively, for PZT films with thicknesses of 0.3 and 0.56 μm.