Dielectric properties of oriented PbZrO3 thin films grown by sol-gel process

Antiferroelectric PbZrO3 (PZ) films have been fabricated on LaNiO3/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using a sol-gel process. The films with perovskite structure showed highly 〈001〉 preferred orientation. An antiferroelectric phase was identified by the presence of 1/4{110} superlattice spots in a [001] selected area electron diffraction pattern. The field-induced antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase switching was demonstrated at room temperature with full saturation and a maximum polarization of 40 μC/cm2. Dielectric properties were investigated as a function of both temperature and frequency. The presence of a conductive buffer layer of LaNiO3 on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate enabled the growth of high quality and highly oriented PZ antiferroelectric thin films that showed near zero remanent polarization and squared hysteresis loops.