Growth, structure, and properties of all-epitaxial ferroelectric (Bi,La)4Ti3O12/Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3/(Bi,La)4Ti3O12 trilayered thin films on SrRuO3-covered SrTiO3(011) substrates -: art. no. 082906

All-epitaxial (Bi,La)(4)Ti3O12(BLT)/Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3(PZT)/(Bi,La)(4)Ti3O12 trilayered ferroelectric thin films were prepared on SrRuO3 (SRO)-covered SrTiO3(011) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. Epitaxial relationships were identified to be BLT(118)parallel to PZT(011)parallel to SrTiO3(011), and BLT[110]parallel to PZT[100]parallel to SrTiO3[100]. Atomic force microscopy observation of the surface showed that the upper BLT layer is composed of rod-like grains. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy investigations revealed ferroelectric 90 degrees domains in the PZT layer, as well as a rather smooth morphology of the BLT/PZT interfaces. Remanent polarization and coercive field of the trilayered films were 28.1 mu C/cm(2) and 33.7 kV/cm, respectively. The thin films showed a high fatigue resistance at least up to 1010 switching pulse cycles. Obviously, a trilayered structure combines the advantages of PZT and BLT, indicating that the all-epitaxial BLT/PZT/BLT trilayered structure is a promising material combination for ferroelectric memory device applications. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.