Influence of plasma pressure on the growth characteristics and ferroelectric properties of sputter-deposited PZT thin films

Abstract PZT thin films of thickness (320–1040) nm were synthesized on Si/SiO2/Ti/Pt multilayered substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The influence of plasma pressure in the range of (0.24–4.9) Pa, during deposition, on the structural, electrical and ferroelectric properties of the PZT films was systematically studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) were employed for structural study. Nano-probe Energy Dispersive (EDX) line scanning was employed to investigate the elemental distribution across the film-bottom electrode interface. I–V characteristics and polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis loop of the films were measured. The study reveals that the plasma pressure has a strong influence on the evolution and texture of the ferroelectric perovskite phase and microstructure of the films. At an optimum plasma pressure of 4.1 Pa, PZT films are grown with 93% perovskite phase with (1 1 1) preferred orientation and uniform granular microstructure. These films show a saturation polarization of 67 μC/cm2, remnant polarization of 30 μC/cm2 and coercive field of 28 kV/cm which, according to the literature, seem to be suitable for device applications. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study shows that at a plasma pressure of 4.1 Pa, the PZT/bottom Pt interface is sharp and no amorphous interlayer is formed at the interface. At a higher plasma pressure of 4.9 Pa, poor I–V and P–E hysteresis loop are observed which are interpreted as due to an amorphous interlayer at the film-bottom electrode interface which is possibly enriched in Pb, Zr, O and Pt.