Characterization of Ferroelectric SrBi2Ta2 O 9 Thin Films Deposited by a Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering Technique

Abstract

Fatigue‐free Bi‐layer films were deposited on substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The addition of 30 mole percent (m/o) and 20 m/o into the target was necessary in order to compensate for the lack of Sr and Bi in the films. A 200 nm thick film annealed at 800°C exhibited dense morphology, a dielectric constant of 210, and a dissipation factor of 0.06 at a frequency of 1 MHz. The remnant polarization 2Pr and the coercive field 2Ec of the films were 9.1 μC/cm2 and 85 kV/cm, respectively, at an applied voltage of 5 V. The leakage current density was about at 150 kV/cm. The films showed fatigue‐free characteristics under a ±5 V bipolar square pulse of 1 MHz up to . The films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering are attractive for application to nonvolatile memory devices.