Abstract
Neodymium titanate () is a ferroelectric as well as a pyroelectric material with a transition temperature of 1480 °C. Hence,
offers potential to be utilized as high temperature pyroelectric sensor in both bulk and thin film form. In this work, bulk
powders were synthesized using solid state reaction method, which were later pressed into the pellets. Later, thin films of
were deposited on commercially available platinized(111) silicon and Si(100) substrates via pulsed laser deposition technique. The huge c/a ratio (∼1.695) and the thermal expansion mismatch with most of the commonly used substrates like silicon and platinized silicon, results into crack formation in
thin films. Crack formation on
thin film, which deteriorates pyroelectric property of
film, was suppressed by the introduction of
buffer layer between the film and substrate. The calculated value of thermal expansion coefficient of
is 2.86 × 10−5 °C−1. Moreover, thermally generated strain between
film and platinum substrate was found to be around 2%. The piezoresponse force microscopy experiment confirms the existence of ferroelectric domains in the film. Pyroelectric coefficient (p) calculated from the pyrocurrent studies was estimated around 3.52 and 13.6 μC/m2K in the bulk and thin film, respectively.