Influence of the processing parameters on the piezoelectric properties of sputtered lead-based ferroelectric thin films

Abstract

Lead-based ferroelectric thin films, PT and PZT, have been deposited on platinized silicon substrates by using rf magnetron sputtering technique. Whatever the deposition network, the piezoelectric character has been demonstrated for all films. The piezoelectric response dependence of the poling treatment with the time and the applied dc electric field has been studied. The in-situ deposited films, without previous poling, present piezoelectric activity e_31PT=-0.49 C/m². The post-annealed films have a slight piezoelectric activity without poling treatment and maximum values of the piezoelectric coefficients have been obtained, e_31PT=-0.41 C/m² and e_31PZT=-3.84 C/m² with dc electric field of 100 and 150 kV/cm respectively. The piezoelectric responses are directly related to the structure of the films, they are discussed in terms of domain orientation during the films formation and during the poling treatment.

Key Words:

• PT
• PZT
• sputtering
• thin films
• piezoelectricity
• poling