Relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 thin films and their electromechanical properties

Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 thin films were prepared from modified alkoxide solution precursors and their dielectric and electromechanical characteristics were investigated. Preparation of the films is very sensitive to processing para meters. The influence of different seeding layers on the microstructures is discussed. Films show relaxer-like behavior, but with dielectric permittiv ity which is low (4500 at peak) compared to bulk ceramics and single crysta ls. Large electric de bias fields (up to 120 kV/cm) can be applied to the f ilms. This de field reduces the permittivity, suppresses the frequency disp ersion and flattens the permittivity-peak. No anomaly in temperature depend ence of the permittivity associated with the held induced transition into, a ferroelectric phase was observed. The maximum field induced piezoelectric d(33) coefficient is around 85 pm/V and electrostrictive strains up to 1.6 10(-3) were measured with an electric field of 30 kV/cm.