Ferroelectric hysteresis and improved fatigue of PZT (53/47) films fabricated by a simplified sol–gel acetic-acid route

Double-layer Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 films were fabricated by spin coating of a sol–gel acetic-acid-based precursor solution deposited onto commercial Pt–Si substrates. The structural properties of the samples were studied by several diffraction, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. The annealed ferroelectric films were crystallized to a pure PZT perovskite phase. A significant monoclinic phase content was found together with a relatively large tetragonal c/a ratio, according to the diffraction pattern refinement results. No traces of organic material were observed. Good film densification with relatively large grain sizes and low surface roughness was achieved. Ferroelectric domain distribution and local piezoresponse hysteresis loops were investigated by piezoresponse force microscopy. The films showed good local ferroelectric properties and a relatively large d33 piezoelectric coefficient was derived. A degree of self-polarization of the film was also found from the domain distribution-map analysis. Good macroscopic ferroelectric properties were also achieved, specially for the film with less rhombohedral content. An improved ferroelectric fatigue behavior was observed as the films proved to sustain down to 108 fatigue cycles with only a 10 % decrease of the initial remnant polarization.