Low-temperature crystallization of CSD-derived PZT thin film with laser assisted annealing

Low temperature crystallization of CSD-derived ferroelectric thin films was aimed by laser assisted annealing in this paper. Pb(ZrxT1-x)O-3(PZT) thin films with a MPB composition (Zr/Ti = 53/47) and LaNiO3 (LNO) thin film electrodes were deposited by the chemical solution deposition (CSD) method on a Si wafer. The thickness of PZT films was about 70 nm, and the thickness of LNO films as seeding layers and electrodes was about 250 nm. The PZT/LNO films were annealed at the substrate temperature ranging from 300 degrees C to 500 degrees C for 15 min with or without KrF excimier laser irradiation. Both the diffraction peaks of (100)- and (200)- planes for PZT and LNO were identified at 500 degrees C. However, (100)- and (200)- peaks for PZT were not observed for the films without laser-irradiation below 400 degrees C. On the other hand, these peaks were observed for the PZT films with laser-irradiation even below 400 degrees C. The dielectric constant of the PZT film with laser assisted annealing at 350 degrees C was measured to show about 700. These results demonstrated that the crystallization of ferroelectric PZT thin films was enhanced by KrF excimier laser irradiation and by using the oriented LNO thin film as a seeding layer. (C)2009 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.