The alternative route of low-temperature preparation of highly oriented lead zirconate titanate thin films by high gas-pressure processing

The Pb(Zr_xTi_1–x)O₃(PZT) films sputter deposited on LaNiO₃(LNO)/Si(100) substrates were recrystallized to highly (l00)-oriented perovskite structure by high oxygen-pressure processing (HOPP) and high argon-pressure processing (HAPP), which were performed at a relatively low temperature 400 °C compared to the normally required temperature condition above 600 °C. Ferroelectricity of PZT films was investigated by a measurement of P-E hysteresis loop. The P-E hysteresis loops of the PZT(52/48) and PZT(30/70) films after HOPP showed better squareness and larger remnant polarization than those of as-sputtered ones prepared at a high temperature of 600 °C. Although the PZT films with HAPP also showed a high (l00)-oriented perovskite structure and obvious ferroelectricity, their P-E loops suggested relatively poor ferroelectricity compared to those of the PZT films with HOPP. This means that a further optimization for HAPP is needed to improve ferroelectricity of PZT films.