Lead zirconium titanate thin films prepared by thermal annealing of multilayer structures composed of PbO, ZrO2 and TiO2

Lead zirconium titanate [Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 or PZT] thin films were prepared by the thermal annealing of multilayer films composed of binary oxide layers of PbO, ZrO2 and TiO2. The binary oxides were deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. An interdiffusion reaction for perovskite PZT thin films was initiated at approximately 550 °C and nearly completed at 750 °C for 1 h under O2 annealing atmosphere. The composition of Pb/Zr/Ti in perovskite PZT could be controlled by the thickness ratio of PbO/ZrO2/TiO2 where the contribution of each binary oxide at the same thickness was 1:0.55:0.94. The electrical properties of PZT (Zr/Ti = 40/60, 300 nm) prepared on a Pt-coated substrate included a dielectric constant ɛr of 475, a coercive field Ec of 320 kV/cm, and remnant polarization Pr of 11 μC/cm2 at an applied voltage of 18 V.