Low-temperature crystallization of Pb(Zr0.4,Ti0.6)O3 thin films by chemical solution deposition

We studied the crystallization of sol-gel derived Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O-3 [PZT(40/60)] thin films at 400 down to 390degreesC on Pt/SiO2/Si substrates by combination of diol-based solutions and modified film preparation processes. It was found that PZT films could be crystallized at 390degreesC and that PZT films crystallized at 400degreesC had microstructures with perovskite-single-phase columnar grains and good ferroelectric characteristics such as switched polarization (2 P-r) of 20 muC/cm(2) and relative permittivity (epsilon(r)) of 740. Next, we evaluated annealing temperature dependence of PZT(40/60) thin films crystallized at 390 to 435degreesC. The results indicated that (1 I I)-orientation of perovskite phases became weaker, (100)-orientation of those became stronger, and the perovskite grain size increased with decreasing in annealing temperature.