Improvement in the electrical properties in Pt/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3/Pt ferroelectric capacitors using a wet cleaning method

A wet cleaning solution was designed to specifically eliminate nonferroelec tric phases, such as pyrochlore, PbO, and the etching damaged layer. Scanni ng electron microscopy pictures clearly showed that treatment with the clea ning solution completely removed these nonferroelectric phases. After remov ing the nonferroelectric phases, ferroelectric properties such as remnant p olarization, coercive voltage, and leakage current, were remarkably improve d. In addition, the wet cleaned ferroelectric capacitors yielded superior e ndurance against hydrogen-induced damage compared to those of the noncleane d capacitors. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)02622- 5].