Ferroelectric properties of sol-gel derived Ca modified PbZr 0.52 Ti 0.48 O 3 films

In this letter, we report the ferroelectric properties and leakage current characteristics of Ca modified PbZr 0.52 Ti 0.48 O 3 (PCZT) films prepared by a sol-gel process. The PCZT film of thickness ∼ 1 μ m shows excellent ferroelectric properties in terms of large remnant polarization of ∼ 30 μ C ∕ cm 2 ( E c ∼ 200 kV ∕ cm ) , high saturation polarization of about 51 μ C ∕ cm 2 for an applied field of 915 kV ∕ cm , fatigue free characteristics up to ⩾ 10 10 switching cycles, and a low leakage current density of 5 × 10 − 8 A ∕ cm 2 at 100 kV ∕ cm . X-ray diffraction, atomic force, and scanning electron microscope investigations indicate that PCZT films deposited on PbTiO 3 layers exhibit a dense, well-crystallized microstructure having random orientations and a rather smooth surface morphology.