Preparation and properties of PLZT thick films on silicon

Lead-lanthanum-zirconate-titanate (PLZT) thick films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates with PZT/PT seeding layer by the screen-printing method. Phase characterization and crystal orientation of the PLZT thick films were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The ferroelectric hysteresis loop, high-frequency dielectric constant, dielectric loss and piezoelectric constant of the PLZT thick films were measured. The remnant polarization of the silicon-based PLZT thick films was about 32 μC cm−2, the coercive field was about 20 kV cm−1 and the piezoelectric constant d33 was about 630 pC N−1. In the frequency range from 1 to 300 MHz, the dielectric constant was about 3000 and the dielectric loss was less than 0.03, respectively. The PLZT thick films with excellent ferroelectric, high frequency and force–electric coupling properties should be suitable for the ferroelectrics–silicon integrated system, and be a good candidate material for the third-generation (3G) mobile communication and the force–electric coupling microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device applications.