Heteroepitaxial growth and switching behaviors of PZT(53/47) films on LaNiO3-deposited LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 substrates

Epitaxial thin films of Pb(Zr0.53 Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) and LaNiO3 (LNO) have been grown by sol-gel method on (100)LaAlO3 and (100)SrTiO3 substrates. Structural, surface morphological, and ferroelectric properties of PZT deposited on LNO electrode were investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns including phi-scan exhibit that epitaxial PZT and LNO thin films can be grown at an annealing temperature as low as 700°C with good crystallinity and no presence of secondary phases. The ferroelectric properties of the PZT films are observed through the P-E hysteresis loop and C-V curves. The average Pr and Ec were 28 μC/cm2 and 35 kV/cm, respectively at an applied electric field of 300 kV/cm. The films exhibited good fatigue characteristics under bipolar stressing. The piezoelectric coefficient of the films was 270 pC/N by a single beam interferometer technique.