Characterization of PZT and PNZT thin films for monolithic microwave integrated circuit applications

Ferroelectric material is widely known for its high dielectric constant. The preparation of the thin ferroelectric films is interrelated to the dielectric properties when an application is concerned. In order to investigate the dielectric properties of the film, the respective sample is characterized. A detailed characterization is carried out in this work for PZT and PNZT ferroelectric materials by employing the planar-circuit methods. The films, prepared using rf sputtering and metal organic deposition (MOD), were constructed in the form of capacitors of area 50 μm × 50 μm, and characterized using short-open-load (SOL) calibration technique. S-parameter measurements were performed using wafer probes in conjunction with a vector network analyzer at two frequency ranges of 40 to 500 MHz and 0.5 to 20 GHz. The results show that the capacitance, loss tangent and the relative permittivity vary with the frequency. Also, the investigation revealed the effect of the dielectric polarization of the PNZT and PZT over the broad frequency range.