Influence of deposition parameters on the dielectric properties of rf magnetron sputtered Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 thin films

Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 (BZxT1−x in short) thin films have been deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering and their dielectric properties have been characterized as a function of sputtering parameters. The BZxT1−x thin films are amorphous when sputtered at rf power (Rp)=100 W and substrate temperature (ST)=300 °C. The crystalline phase of the BZxT1−x thin films appears when the substrate temperature increases from 300 to 400 and 500 °C, respectively, and the films have a high degree of (100) preferred orientation. The dielectric constant decreases with increasing measurement temperature, irrespective of the rf power and Zr content of the BZxT1−x thin films. The BZ0.3T0.7 thin films have a low dielectric loss tangent irrespective of the sputtering parameters. The dielectric constant of the BZ0.3T0.7 thin film increases with increasing Zr·(Zr+Ti)−1 ratio and deposition temperature but decreases with increasing working pressure. Besides, the dielectric constant suddenly increases from 244.0 to 284.1 when the rf power increases from 100 to 130 W, then it decreases from 284.1 to 270.0 when the rf power increases from 130 to 160 W. The dielectric constant also suddenly increases from 164.1 to 281.5 when the sputtering gas contains O2 from 0 to 10%, but its variation is insignificant when the sputtering gas contains O2 from 10 to 20%.