Imprint Behavior of Piezoelectric PZT Thin Films Deposited onto Cu-Coated Polymer Substrates

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the imprint behavior of lead-rich Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin films deposited onto copper-coated Kapton® substrates by piezoresponse force microscopy. As-deposited films, consisting of a mixture of PZT and lead and zirconium oxides, had a strongly imprinted polarization state with a polarization vector pointing toward the film surface. Above a threshold field of about 10 V/μm, a steeply increasing piezoelectric response without hysteresis was obtained. With increasing voltage cycling, the threshold field increases and a one-sided piezoresponse hysteresis is obtained. The described imprint behavior is related to initially trapped charge carriers and their detrapping under voltage cycling.

Keywords:

• Plasma deposition
• PZT
• Imprint
• Piezoresponse force microscopy

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) - Grant GE 779/18-1, by the DAAD-GRICES Grant D/07/13640, by the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic—Grants KAN301370701 and AV0Z10100522, and by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic—Grants 202/09/J017.