Abstract
Elemental depth profile examined using secondary-ion mass spectroscopy and structural profile examined using grazing-incident X-ray diffractometry were applied to analyze the growth behavior of Pb <sub>1-x</sub> La <sub>x</sub> (Zr <sub>y</sub> Ti <sub>1-y</sub> )O <sub>3</sub> (PLZTO) and Pb <sub>1-x</sub> La <sub>x</sub> TiO <sub>3</sub> (PLTO) thin films deposited on a Si substrate. When deposited under a suitably high substrate temperature, the chamber's oxygen pressure was observed to substantially influence the structure of the films. Low oxygen pressures (P <sub>O(2)</sub> <0.01 mbar) deteriorate crystal structure without altering the composition of the films. Deposition of a buffer layer enhanced the formation kinetics of PLZTO and PLTO films. However, sufficiently thick SrTiO <sub>3</sub> (approximately 500 nm) layer was required to achieve this effect. Using (La <sub>0.5</sub> Sr <sub>0.5</sub> )CoO <sub>3</sub> /Pt materials as double-layer electrodes not only presented the film-to-substrate interaction, but resulted in preferentially oriented thin films. Ferroelectric properties of the films were thus greatly improved, with remanent polarization (Pr) around 14 to approximately 16 μC/cm <sup>2</sup> , coercive force (Ec) around 50 to approximately 60 kV/cm, and relative dielectric constant (ε <sub>r</sub> ) around 900 to approximately 1,000.