Thermal annealing effects on the structural and electrical properties of PMN–PZ–PT ternary thin films deposited by a sol–gel process

Thin film samples of 0.15PMN–0.45PZ–0.40PT (PMN–PZ–PT) three-component system were prepared on Pt-coated Si substrates by a sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) show that the above films can be formed in a single-phase perovskite structure at 800 °C. This was further confirmed by the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of the samples annealed at different temperatures. It was demonstrated that the morphology and microstructures of the PMN–PZ–PT films were quite sensitive to their annealing conditions, which strongly affects their electrical properties.