Processing effects on the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films prepared by sol–gel process

Lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) thin films grown on Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO2/Si(1 0 0) substrates by a simple sol–gel process use various thermally decompose temperatures from 320 to 400 °C. Then PZT films were annealed at various temperatures from 550 to 600 °C in oxygen atmosphere by a rapid thermal annealing process, and highly (1 1 1)-oriented PZT thin films have been obtained. The microstructure and surface morphologies, and root mean square (RMS) roughness of the thin films were studied by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images shown that the higher (1 1 1) orientation present in the PZT thin films, the smaller grain size, and the lower RMS roughness. PZT films on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates were initially heated at 400 and 320 °C, then annealed at 550 °C, the remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive electric field (Ec) were 16.1 μC/cm2 and 105 kV/cm, 32.2 μC/cm2 and 79.9 kV/cm; at 100 kHz, the dielectric constant and dissipation factor were 331 and 0.045, 539 and 0.066, respectively. The highly (1 1 1) oriented PZT films, have smooth surface, good ferroelectric and dielectric properties.