Surface treatment effects on the thickness dependence of the remanent polarization of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 capacitors

In this letter, we report on the thickness dependence of the remanent polarization of Pt/PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3/SrRuO3 capacitors. Two different patterning techniques were used to fabricate the capacitors. For lift-off processed capacitors, the remanent polarization decreased with decreasing thickness. Ion-beam-etched capacitors, however, showed a constant remanent polarization for all PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 film thicknesses down to 23 nm. Remarkably, this constant remanent polarization for ion-beam-etched capacitors corresponds to the spontaneous polarization expected for a stress-free bulk PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 crystal.