Study of Polarization and Relaxation on Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films by Scanning Probe Microscopy

Polycrystalline Pb(Zr0.55T0.45)O(3)thin film was deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2Si(100) by radio-frequency-magnetron sputtering method, the writing of charge bits and the polarization relaxation phenomena on the surface of PZT thin film was studied by Kelvin probe force microscopy and Piezoresponse force microscopy, respectively. It is found that the surface potential of the negative charge bits are higher than those of the corresponding positive ones, and the charge accumulates remarkably in high vacuum but relax more quickly. The domain images (contrast) reveal that the polarization magnitude is determined by the orientation of each grain, which is proved by the Ref 14. Taking the polarized area as whole, the relaxation of polarization magnitude (contrast) show that the polarized state in some grain can maintain at least 10(5)s, but in other grain, the polarization disappear relatively quickly.