Fabrication and properties of xBiFeO3-(1-x)Bi4Ti3O12 system by sol-gel process

The thin films of mixture of xBiFeO(3)-(1 - x)Bi4Ti3O12 (x = 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6) system were prepared by a sol-gel process. The thicknesses of the thin films were 540, 500, and 570 nm, respectively. The crystal structure of all thin films annealed at 650 A degrees C was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. It was found that the thin films at x = 0.4 and 0.5 mainly consisted of a Bi4Ti3O12 phase while Bi5Ti3FeO15 was the major phase of the thin film at x = 0.6. The thin film (x = 0.6) showed better ferroelectric properties in remnant polarization and polarization fatigue than those observed in the thin films (x = 0.4 and 0.5). The values of remnant polarization 2P (r) and coercive field 2E c of the thin film at x = 0.6 were 36 mu C/cm(2) and 192 kV/cm at an applied electric field of 260 kV/cm, respectively. There was almost no polarization fatigue up to 10(10) switching cycles. Also weak ferromagnetism was observed in the thin film at x = 0.6.