Preparation and Characterization of Screen-printed Lead Zirconate Titanate Thick Films

Ferroelectric PZT heterolayered thick films were fabricated by the alkoxide-based sol-gel method. PZT(Zr/Ti=60/40) paste was made and alternately screen-printed on the Al2O3 substrates. We have introduced a press-treatment to obtain a good densification of screen printed films The porosity of the thick films was decreased with increasing the applied pressure and the thick films pressed at 0.6 ton/cm(2) showed the dense microstructure and thickness of about 76 vim. The relative dielectric constant increased with increasing the applied pressure. The remanent polarization and coercive field increased with increasing applied pressure and the values for the PZT thick films pressed at 0.6 ton/cm(2) were 16.6 mu C/cm(2), 76.9 kV/cm, respectively.