Abstract
A critical comparison is made between the two leading material technologies being developed for the first generation of non-volatile ferroelectric memories. One of them is based on Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PZT) and the other on a layered perovskite family of materials, of which the most intensively investigated is Sr1-xBi2+yTa2O9 (SBT). Basic scientific and technological issues, related to the synthesis of thin films and composition-microstructure-property relationships, are discussed in view of materials integration strategies developed to produce capacitors with properties suitable for commercial non-volatile ferroelectric memories.