Absorption-reflection infrared spectroscopy studies of sol-gel prepared ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 thin films on Pt electrodes

Although the sol-gel method is ideally suited for the preparation of ferroe lectric PZT thin films, poor reproducibility and the need to lower crystall ization temperatures remain an issue. To address these problems, we have st udied the mechanism of thin film formation using absorption-reflection infr ared spectroscopy for a novel and less harmful precursor solution system ba sed on butoxyethanol. By recording in situ infrared spectra we were able to monitor hydrolysis, condensation, decomposition and crystallization phenom ena versus temperature. We speculate that the lower reactivity of butoxyeth anol is responsible for the higher quality of Ti rich PZT based ferroelectr ic capacitors prepared by a butoxyethanol precursor solution compared with the more widely used methoxyethanol one. Finally, we observed that film's d ecomposition kinetics is faster as compared to bulk samples and depends on film thickness and electrode layer.