Electrical and Crystallographic Properties of Sputtered-Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ Films Treated by Rapid Thermal Annealing

Abstract

Pyrochlore-phase lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) films were prepared by rf-magnetron sputtering using a multi-element metal target at 400°C. These films were crystallized to the perovskite phase by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 600°C for a few minutes. The RTA-treated PZT films had not only extremely smooth surfaces but also tenfold stronger X-ray diffraction peak intensities of the perovskite structure than those of furnace-annealed films which had with rough undulation. The electrical properties of RTA-treated films indicated good ferroelectric properties. The remanent polarization and coercive field of the 100 nm-thick RTA-treated film were 15 µC/cm 2 and 67 kV/cm, respectively. Fatigue measurements with alternating ±3 V pulses showed that the film was stable up to 10 9 cycles.