Characterization of microstructural and piezoelectric properties of oriented PZT thin films obtained by pulsed laser deposition

The growing of oriented crystalline PZT films on silicon substrates at low substrate temperatures is reported. By varying the laser fluency and other deposition parameters we have been able to produce by a single step process highly oriented PZT films with good piezoelectric properties at much lower temperatures than reported in other PLD experiments. Film microstructural and compositional characterization as well as piezoelectric measurements ar e presented and discussed.