Structure and piezoelectric properties of 1-μm-thick polar-axis-oriented CaBi4Ti4O15 films

1-μm-thick polar-axis-oriented CaBi4Ti4O15 (CBTi144) films were fabricated by control of nucleation and growth in alkoxy-derived non-crystalline layers on Pt foils. The oxygen ambient during pre-baking impacted both the cross-sectional microstructure and the crystallographic orientation. The 1-μm-thick film showed relatively high intensities of (100)/(010) diffraction lines in the X-ray diffraction profile and simultaneously had a closely packed dense structure in the transmission electron microscopy cross-sectional profile. Resultantly, the leakage current density decreased to about 7×10-8 A/cm2 at 10 V. The piezoelectric constant d33 was determined to be 260 pm/V at a maximum poling voltage of 60 V by measurements using piezoelectric force microscopy.