Ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 thick films prepared by chemical solution deposition process

The ferroelectric properties and piezoelectric properties of 5 mu m thick Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O-3 (x - 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8) films with 20 mu m diameter disk-shaped electrodes were studied. The ferroelectric properties and piezoelectric properties of the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick films were simultaneously measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM) connected to a ferroelectric test system. With regard of the ferroelectric properties, the coercive field Ec increases as the Zr content x decreases, and the remnant polarization Pr shows a peak at x = 0.6-0.7. These tendencies are consistent with bulk PZT. The piezoelectric constants, referred to as AFMd(33), show a maximum peak at x = 0.5 and a second peak at x = 0.7. This tendency is consistent with the simulation results for bulk PZT. The AFMd33 peak at x = 0.5 corresponds to the morphotropic phase boundary and the AFMd33 peak at x = 0.7 corresponds to the rhombohedral phase boundary between the high-temperature phase and the low-temperature phase. Observation results strongly suggest that the 5 mu m thick films have the same ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties as those of bulk PZT. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.