An XPS and XRD study of physical and chemical homogeneity of Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 thin films obtained by pulsed laser deposition

Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) oriented films deposited by laser ablation on Bu(lll)/Si (lll) have been tested by different techniques for their physico-chemical h omogeneity. The samples have been divided in different zones, in order to v erify the existence of chemical and structural differences between differen t regions. Few techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelect ron spectroscopy (XPS) have been employed for characterization. XRD analyse s showed differences regarding the crystallographic content and the degree of orientation between zones subjected to the plasma arriving at different angles of incidence on the sample surface. In the same zones XPS studies ha ve been performed by a VG ESCALAB 210 Spectrometer, using a non-monochromat ic AlKalpha X-ray source (300 W) in the five channel hemispherical analyzer . Wide scans in the binding energy scale 0-1200 eV, at 50 eV analyzer pass energy, were collected both from the as received surface and after sputter cleaning in order to put into evidence all the constituents of the film. Na rrow scans of Ti 2p, Zr 3d, Pb 4f and O 1s is were also acquired at 20 eV a nd 0.1 eV/channel pass energy and 100 ms of dwell time in order to give a b etter insight into the chemical bonds form and a semiquantitative analyze o f the present chemical species. The piezoelectric properties of different z ones were also measured, (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.