Sol-gel derived ferroelectric PZT thin films on doped silicon substrates

Abstract

Thin Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 films were fabricated by the sol-gel method. Films with thickness of 0.5 μm to 2 μm were coated on doped silicon substrates, using a multiple deposition process. The study on the ferroelectric hysteresis loop of the films using metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor configuration yielded remanent polarization of 2.2 × 10-2 C/m2 and coercive field of 7.5 kV/cm. The low remanent polarization and high coercive field of the PZT film compared to the bulk PZT is due to the small grain size. Asymmetric hysteresis loops were observed. The mechanism associated with the phenomenon is attributed to the space charge compensating the contact potential difference at the interface of ferroelectric-semiconductor.