The effect of annealing on improving the quality of lead zirconate titanate thin films on Pt/SiO2/Si substrates

This paper discusses the impact of different annealing conditions on the st ructures of PZT thin films. At a RF power of 100 W, a substrate of 350 degr ees C and an Ar flow rate of 20 seem (0.0094 m(3)/s), an amorphous PZT thin film is deposited. After annealing properly, a high quality structure and orientation-selective perovskite phase PZT thin film is constructed. When t he annealing temperature is lower, the PZT thin films become a pyrochlore p hase. However, when the annealing temperature is higher than 700 degrees C, the PZT thin films become a perovskite phase. With the increase of anneali ng temperature, the quality of the PZT thin films also becomes better. At t he annealing temperature of 750 degrees C, the count proportion of (1 1 0) orientation is the highest and the FWHM of the (1 1 0) peak is the lowest. However, too high an annealing temperature leads to the over-volatilization of PbO, which lowers the quality of the PZT thin films. Furthermore; the p roper annealing time to construct the PZT thin films with optimal structure is 5 min. Experimentally, at the annealing temperature of 750 degrees C an d for the annealing time of 5 min, perovskite PZT thin films with good qual ity structure can be constructed, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.