Substitution effects on the ferroelectric properties of BiFeO3 thin films prepared by chemical solution deposition

Abstract

Ferroelectric properties of Cr-substituted BiFeO3 (BFCr) and Pb-cosubstituted BFCr films prepared by a chemical solution deposition method and annealed at 550°C in nitrogen have been studied. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the thin films were composed of a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure without secondary phases. The 5mol% Pb-cosubstituted BFCr films appeared to have superior ferroelectric properties to those of other BFCr films prepared by the same conditions. The remanent polarization (Pr) and the coercive field (Ec) of the 5mol% Pb-cosubstituted BFCr film were 62μC∕cm2 and 235kV∕cm, respectively, with a maximum applied field of 712kV∕cm. In addition, the film exhibited a fatigue-free behavior up to 1.45×1010 read/write cycles.