Influence of crystal structure on the fatigue properties of Pb(1-x)La(x)(Zr/y/, Ti/z/)O3 thin films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition technique

Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) films containing 001-line preferentially oriented grains were produced successfully on YBCO-coated SrTiO3 (STO) or YBCO/CeO2-coated silicon substrates; films containing randomly oriented grains were created on platinum-coated silicon substrates. The latter possessed significantly inferior ferroelectric properties, a fact ascribed to the presence of a paraelectric phase (TiO2) at the PLZT /platinum interface. On the other hand, the PLZT/YBCO/STO films exhibited better electrical properties than did the PLZT/YBCO/CeO2 /Si films, and this phenomenon was attributed to better alignment of the grains in normal and in-plane orientations. In terms of fatigue properties, the 001-line textured films that were deposited on YBCO/CeO2/Si substrates possessed substantially superior polarization-switching-cycle endurance vs the randomly oriented films grown on Pt(Ti)/Si substrates. Moreover, the tetragonal films behaved much more satisfactorily than did the rhombohedral PLZT films. (Author)