Gamma-ray irradiation effects on electrical properties of ferroelectric PbTiO3 and Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 thin films

Abstract We investigated gamma-ray irradiation effects on electrical properties of ferroelectric PbTiO 3 (PTO) and Pb(Zr 0.52 Ti 0.48 )O 3 (PZT) thin films. PTO and PZT thin films were prepared on the Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates by using a sol–gel method with a spin-coating process. The prepared PTO and PZT thin films were subjected to gamma radiation with various total doses from 0 kGy to 300 kGy. There were no noticeable morphological and structural changes in PTO and PZT films before and after irradiation. As a total dose increases up to 300 kGy, a larger degradation behavior of electrical properties was observed in the PZT films rather than in the PTO films. About 35% of remanent polarization value decreased for the PZT films, while just 10% of that decreased for the PTO films. Dielectric constant of PZT films decreased much from 850 to 580, but that of the PTO films decreased just a little from 400 to 340. This degradation behavior of polarization and dielectric properties can be explained by the pinning of domain walls by some radiation-induced defects. These results suggest that the PTO films have higher radiation hardness properties than the PZT films.