Characterization of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin film prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The PZT thin film has been successfully prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition. The target is of Pb(Zr052Ti0.48)O3 which has excess Pb. The PZT thin film thickness is between 200 and 500 nm while the buffer layer Ti is of 50 nm thick. This paper describes the effects of deposition temperature on the crystallization process of sputtering PZT film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed the crystalline structure, the surface morphology and the crystallographic orientations of PZT films. For electrical characterizations, the bottom electrode with width of 1.0 mm strip was formed by depositing the Ti/Pt on Si substrate and etching, the top electrode with same shape and width was formed by sputtering Pt but it was at right angles to the bottom electrode, so the ferroelectric capacitor had an area of 1.0×10−2 cm2. Ferroelectric properties of the capacitor has been characterized using a ferroelectric film tester (Radiant Technologies, RT66A). Process optimized PZT film has a coercive field of 45 kV cm−1 and a remanent polarization of 25 μC cm−2. The PZT film has perovskite structure.