Research Update: Enhanced energy storage density and energy efficiency of epitaxial Pb0.9La0.1(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 relaxor-ferroelectric thin-films deposited on silicon by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Pb0.9La0.1(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PLZT) relaxor-ferroelectric thin films were grown on SrRuO3/SrTiO3/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A large recoverable storage density (Ureco) of 13.7 J/cm3 together with a high energy efficiency (η) of 88.2% under an applied electric field of 1000 kV/cm and at 1 kHz frequency was obtained in 300-nm-thick epitaxial PLZT thin films. These high values are due to the slim and asymmetric hysteresis loop when compared to the values in the reference undoped epitaxial lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 ferroelectric thin films (Ureco = 9.2 J/cm3 and η = 56.4%) which have a high remanent polarization and a small shift in the hysteresis loop, under the same electric field.