Aqueous chemical solution deposition of ferroelectric thin films

Thin films of various ferroelectric multimetal oxides such as (Bi1-xLax)(4)Ti3O12(BLT), SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) and PbZr1-xTixO3 (PZT) have been prepared by an entirely aqueous chemical solution deposition (CSD) route. Two critical issues related with aqueous CSD have hereby been worked out: in spite of the high degree of hydrolysis of tetra- and pentavalent metal ions (Ti4+ , Zr4+ , Ta5+, ...) we managed to prepare stable aqueous precursor solutions by chemical modification of these individual metals, avoiding phase segregation. Another problem related with aqueous CSD is the wetting of the substrate (both metallic and metal oxide) by the aqueous solution. The hydrophilicity of the substrates is optimized by a chemical treatment of the substrate surface. In this manner, the addition of wetting agents, hence possibly disturbing the gelation reactions, is avoided. In order to study the gelation, decomposition, crystalization and the morphology of the thin films, various characterization techniques ((cryo-)TEM, SEM, EDX, TGA-MS/FTIR, HT-DRIFT, HT-XRD, ...) are used.