Thickness-dependent electrical properties of lead zirconate titanate thin films on titanium substrates

Ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3(PZT) thin films with various thicknesses have been fabricated on Ti substrates by using the sol-gel method with a rapid thermal annealing process (RTA). A thin layer of LaNiO3 (LNO) thin film was introduced between PZT and Ti substrate. Results indicated that PZT thin films on Ti maintained strong dielectric and ferroelectric properties. With increasing the film thickness, the dielectric constant K of PZT thin films increases, so does the leakage current density. The value of K is of 1050 and 1500 for 0.7 and 2.1 μm thick PZT thin films respectively. The remnant polarization Pr of PZT thin films achieved around 55 μC/cm2, and the coercive field Ec decreased with increasing the film thickness.