Preparation and properties of lead-zirconate-titanate ferroelectric thin films using radio frequency planar magnetron sputtering

Lead-zirconate-titanate [Pb(Zr52Ti48)O3,PZT] thin films, 0.5 μm thick, were deposited onto Pt/Si substrate at room temperature using the radio frequency planar magnetron sputtering technique. A perovskite structure in the PZT thin film was obtained after the annealing processes. The annealing temperature varied from 650 to 750 °C in this experiment to find the optimized annealing temperature. Using x-ray diffraction analysis, the lowest full width of the half maximum (110) plane was 0.23° for the sample at 650 °C annealing temperature. The values of the remanent polarization Pr and coercive field Ec of the PZT thin film were 100 nC cm−2 and 0.6 kV cm−1, respectively, at 60 Hz. The measured pyroelectric coefficient in 0.5 μm thin films was 3.12×10−4 C/m2 K at 50 °C. Their dielectric constant and loss tangent were 494 and 0.072, respectively, at 1 kHz. The surface structure of the PZT thin film was examined using scanning electron microscopy and the grain size was in the range of 0.08–0.14 μm.