Effects of thickness on structures and electrical properties of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 thick films derived from polyvinylpyrrolidone-modified chemical solution

Lead-free ferroelectric K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (KNN) films with different thicknesses were prepared by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-modified chemical solution deposition (CSD) method. The KNN films with thickness up to 4.9 mu m were obtained by repeating deposition-heating process. All KNN thick films exhibit single perovskite phase and stronger (1 1 0) peak when annealed at 650 degrees C. The variation of dielectric constant with thickness indicates that there exists a critical thickness for the dielectric constant in the KNN films which should lie in 1.3-2.5 mu m. The similar trend is observed for the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of KNN films. Both the remnant polarization P-r and the piezoelectric coefficient d(33) of KNN thick films increase with the film thickness and become saturated after the critical thickness. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.