Electrical properties of Cr-doped BiFeO3 thin films fabricated on the p-type Si(100) substrate by chemical solution deposition

Ferroelectric Cr-doped BiFeO3 (BFCr) thin films having a rhombohedrally distorted simple perovskite structure were fabricated on the p-type Si (100) substrate by the chemical solution deposition technique. The microstructures and the surface morphologies of BFCr thin films on the p-type Si (100) annealed at 550 degrees C for 30 min in nitrogen atmosphere were examined by an x-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope, respectively. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves for BFCr thin film as the clockwise ferroelectric hysteresis loop were observed. Furthermore, the C-V characteristics for the metal-ferroelectrics-semiconductor structured BFCr thin films were measured as functions of the voltage and the frequency. From these results, the fixed charge density N-fc was calculated as 5.3x10(11) cm(-2). The leakage current characteristics of BFCr thin films were also measured by a thermally stimulated current measurement. Using the current-voltage curves, the current conduction mechanism of BFCr thin films on the p-type Si (100) capacitor was found to be dominated by the ferroelectric Schottky emission with a barrier height phi(B) of 0.45 +/- 0.02 eV. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.