Investigation the effects of the excess Pb content and annealing conditions on the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of PZT (52-48) films prepared by sol–gel method

The effects of the PbO volatilization, excess Pb content of PbZr 0.52Ti 0.48 (PZT) precursor, PbTiO 3 (PT) seeding layers and annealing condition on the microstructures, surface morphologies, preferred orientation and ferroelectric properties of PbZr 0.52Ti 0.48 films were systematically investigated. PZT films with a variety of excess Pb (0–20%) were spin-deposited on Si(1 0 0) and Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO 2/Si(1 0 0) substrates by sol–gel technique. The films composition, Pb/Zr/Ti/O atom rate and Pb loss were semiquantitative analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). When the excess Pb of PZT precursor was 10%, the Pb/Zr/Ti/O atomic rate of the fabricated films was very close to the designed rate of 1:0.52:0.48:3. The XRD and AFM investigations confirmed that PT seeding layer promoted the PZT films perovskite phase transformation and grains growth with (1 1 0) plane preferred orientation, accordingly lowered perovskite phase crystallization temperature and reduced Pb loss. The PZT films annealed in O 2 flow demonstrated better microstructure and ferroelectric properties comparing with films annealed in air by double remnant polarization increase and 8% coercive field increase. The underlying mechanism was also investigated.