Enhanced polarization and dielectric properties of Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 thin films

We report the fabrication of PbZr0.57Ti0.43O3 (PZT) thin films with preferential growth along (111) and random crystalline orientation on the platinized silicon substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. X-ray diffraction patterns and surface morphology indicate increase in grain size and nucleation, which support better perovskite matrix with increase in annealing temperature. We observed large dielectric constant (similar to 4000) and enhanced remanent polarization 70 mu C/cm(2) at room temperature attributed to grain growth and intermetallic Pt-Pb transient phase. Frequency dependent polarization showed minor reduction in polarization above 10 kHz frequencies. Normalized fatigue characteristic of PZT thin films showed minimal 25% degradation in remanent polarization after 10(9) cycles, which may be useful for memory devices. ac conductivity spectra illustrated that anomaly near the phase transition temperature with activation energy (E-a similar to 0.60-0.75 eV) supports the intrinsic nature of ferroelectric phase transition. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2976348]