A study of ferroelectric thin films deposited on a LaNiO3 barrier electrode by nebulized spray pyrolysis

Thin films of ferroelectric PbTiO3 (PT) and Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O-3 (PZT) as well as antiferroelectric PbZrO3 (PZ) have been prepared on LaNiO3/SiO2/Si substrates by nebulized spray pyrolysis (NSP) of metal-organic precursors. The metallic LaNiO3 (LNO) electrode layer was also deposited by NSP. The ferroelectric films obtained show satisfactory morphology and desirable dielectric properties. Typical values of the coercive field, remnant polarization and dielectric constant (300 K) for the PT/lNO/SiO2/Si film are 170 kV cm(-1), 22 mu C cm(-2) and 210, respectively, with the corresponding values for the PZT/LNO/SiO2/Si film being 120 kV cm(-1), 13 mu C cm(-2) and 540, respectively. The PZ/LNO/SiO2/Si film shows typical antiferroelectric characteristics including the electric-field induced reversible antiferroelectric-ferroelectric transition. The various films deposited on LNO/SiO2/Si by NSP are comparable in all respects to those prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si by the same technique.