Phase development and ferroelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate thin films prepared from a triol sol-gel route

The crystallization temperature and ferroelectric properties of PbZr (0.53) Ti O-0.47(3) Rims prepared using a recently developed triol sol-gel route were investigated fur coatings deposited on platinised silicon substrates. For these 0.4 pm single-layer films, the onset of crystallization, to a mixture of perovskite and pyrochlore/fluorite intermediate phases, occurred at oa. 500 degreesC, but the films were not ferroelectric. Although samples heated at 550 degreesC showed only the perovskite phase in XRD patterns, heating at 580 degreesC was required to produce films which displayed typical ferroelectric P-E hysteresis loops, giving a remanent polarisation, Pr, of 22 muC cm(-2) and coercive field, Ec, of 40 kV cm(-1). There was little change in Pr and Ec values when the final decomposition step was carried out at higher temperatures. up to 700 degreesC. Films displayed a mixture of [111] and [100] orientation, the extent of which varied with final decomposition temperature. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.