Preparation and orientation control of Pb-1.1(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O-3 thin films bya modified sol-gel process

Preferred c-axis orientated Pb-1.1(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O-3 (PZT30/70) thin films wer e prepared on the Pt-coated silicon wafer using a sol-gel solid precursor a pproach. In this modified sol-gel process, the Ti-isopropoxide was chelated with acetylacetone, which makes the sol insensitive to moisture and elimin ates the humidity effect on the sol stability. After lead acetate trihydrat e and Zr-acetylacetonate were dissolved into the stabilized Ti-isopropoxide , a light yellow porous powder of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) precursor w as obtained by drying the mixture at reduced pressure. The PZT30/70 Thin fi lms were prepared using the solid precursor by dissolving the powder into 2 -methoxyethanol, and spin-coated several times to deposit PZT thin films wi th desired thickness. Experimental results showed that the orientation of t he PZT30/70 films was strongly influenced by the pre-baking temperature fol lowing the wet film coating and the thickness of the wet film in each spin- coating step was not as critical as the pre-baking temperature in controlli ng the orientation of the PZT30/70 films. It was found that the preferred c -axis orientated PZT30/70 thin films could be obtained by pre-baking the we t film at 500 degreesC. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.