Investigation the effects of the excess Pb content and annealing conditions on the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of PZT (52-48) films prepared by sol–gel method

The effects of the PbO volatilization, excess Pb content of PbZr0.52Ti0.48 (PZT) precursor, PbTiO3 (PT) seeding layers and annealing condition on the microstructures, surface morphologies, preferred orientation and ferroelectric properties of PbZr0.52Ti0.48 films were systematically investigated. PZT films with a variety of excess Pb (0–20%) were spin-deposited on Si(1 0 0) and Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO2/Si(1 0 0) substrates by sol–gel technique. The films composition, Pb/Zr/Ti/O atom rate and Pb loss were semiquantitative analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). When the excess Pb of PZT precursor was 10%, the Pb/Zr/Ti/O atomic rate of the fabricated films was very close to the designed rate of 1:0.52:0.48:3. The XRD and AFM investigations confirmed that PT seeding layer promoted the PZT films perovskite phase transformation and grains growth with (1 1 0) plane preferred orientation, accordingly lowered perovskite phase crystallization temperature and reduced Pb loss. The PZT films annealed in O2 flow demonstrated better microstructure and ferroelectric properties comparing with films annealed in air by double remnant polarization increase and 8% coercive field increase. The underlying mechanism was also investigated