Growth of (001)-oriented PZT thin films on amorphous SiO2 by pulsed laser deposition

Using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), (001)-textured Nb-doped Pb (Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 (PZT) films with highly restricted in-plane crystallographic alignments were successfully deposited on Si (001) wafers covered with amorphous SiO2. MgO and SrTiO3 (STO) films were used as buffer and seed layers, respectively, for growth of YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) and PZT layers. The YBCO layer can serve as a bottom electrode for activation of PZT films. Variations in the deposition conditions for the MgO films were found to play a key role in the subsequent deposition of the oriented PZT thin films. MgO films deposited at an O-2 partial pressure of 200 mtorr, have a strong (100) texture, leading to subsequent deposition of PZT films with both a strong (100) texture and highly restricted in-plane orientations. Although the MgO and STO films show very strong crystallographic textures, their in-plane orientations are random. The restricted in-plane orientations were only observed in the YBCO and PZT films.