Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep41957
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- LAB FAB for smart sensors and actuators MEMS (Lab4MEMS) under the FP7 ENIAC call
- OpenAIRE FP7 post-grant gold Open Access Pilot fund
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Vanadium doped ZnO (VZO) thin films were grown by RF magnetron sputtering, starting from a ZnO:V ceramic target. The crystal structure, chemical composition, electric and piezoelectric properties of the films were investigated either on the as-grown thin films or after a post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment performed at 600 degrees C for different lengths of time (1 and 5 min) in an oxygen atmosphere. Substitutional doping of Zn2+ with V3+ and V5+ ions strongly deteriorated the hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure of the as-grown thin films due to lattice distortion. The resulting slight amorphization led to a poor piezoelectric response and higher resistivity. After the RTA treatment, strong c-axis oriented VZO thin films were obtained, together with a partial conversion of the starting V3+ ions into V5+. The improvement of the crystal structure and the stronger polarity of both V3+ -O and V5+ -O chemical bonds, together with the corresponding easier rotation under the application of an external electric field, positively affected the piezoelectric response and increased conductivity. This was confirmed by closed-loop butterfly piezoelectric curves, by a maximum d(33) piezoelectric coefficient of 85 pm.V-1, and also by ferroelectric switching domains with a well-defined polarization hysteresis curve, featuring a residual polarization of 12.5 mu C.cm(-2).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available