Misfit strain dependence of ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of clamped (001) epitaxial Pb(Zr0.52, Ti0.48)O3 thin films

A study on the effects of the residual strain in Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 (PZT) thin films on the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties is presented. Epitaxial (001)-oriented PZT thin film capacitors are sandwiched between SrRuO3 electrodes. The thin film stacks are grown on different substrate-buffer-layer combinations by pulsed laser deposition. Compressive or tensile strain caused by the difference in thermal expansion of the PZT film and substrate influences the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. All the PZT stacks show ferroelectric and piezoelectric behavior that is consistent with the theoretical model for strained thin films in the ferroelectric r-phase. We conclude that clamped (001) oriented Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 thin films strained by the substrate always show rotation of the polarization vector. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3669527]