Nanosheet controlled epitaxial growth of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 thin films on glass substrates

Integration of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (PZT) films on glass substrates is of high importance for device applications. However, to make use of the superior ferro-and piezoelectric properties of PZT, well-oriented crystalline or epitaxial growth with control of the crystal orientation is a prerequisite. In this article, we report on epitaxial growth of PZT films with (100)- and (110)-orientation achieved by utilizing Ca2Nb3O10 (CNO) and Ti0.87O2 (TO) nanosheets as crystalline buffer layers. Fatigue measurements demonstrated stable ferroelectric properties of these films up to 5 x 10(9) cycles. (100)-oriented PZT films on CNO nanosheets show a large remnant polarization of 21 mu C/cm(2) that is the highest remnant polarization value compared to (110)-oriented and polycrystalline films reported in this work. A piezoelectric response of 98 pm/V is observed for (100)-oriented PZT film which is higher than the values reported in the literature on Si substrates. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.