Fabrication and properties of epitaxial ferroelectric heterostructures with (SrRuO3) isotropic metallic oxide electrodes

Epitaxial ferroelectric SrRuO3/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3/SrRuO3 heterostructures have been fabricated employing isotropic metallic oxide electrodes on (100) SrTiO3 and (100) Si with an yttria stabilized zirconia buffer layer. The structures have been grown in situ by 90° off-axis sputtering, which allows the growth of uniform stoichiometric films over large areas with excellent step coverage. X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveal high crystalline quality and coherent interfaces. They exhibit superior fatigue characteristics over those made with metal electrodes, showing little degradation over 1010 cycles, with a large remnant polarization.