Fast decay component of the remanent polarization in thin-film PZT capacitors

Abstract

The remanent polarization (2P_r) of thin-film PZT capacitors was examined using a voltage pulse method. The amount of polarization remaining after a “write” pulse was found to be a function of both the time between the write and read pulses and the duration of the write pulse. The 2P_r was found to decrease significantly from 3 μs to 100 ms after the initial write. In some cases the remanent polarization decayed by almost 70 percent in this time regime. The fast decay component of 2P_r was also observed to be dependent on the duration of the write pulse (the write, pulse width). The longer the write pulse was applied the smaller the fast decay component became, leaving more measurable charge retained after 100 ms.