A-site stoichiometry and piezoelectric response in thin film PbZr1−xTixO3

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films with Zr/Ti ratios of 52/48 and 30/70 annealed at varying partial pressures of PbO within the perovskite phase field exhibited permittivities of 1150 and 600, respectively, with loss tangents of 0.02. Many of the functional properties, including the permittivity, piezoelectricity as indicated via the Rayleigh coefficients, and the aging rates were found to be weakly dependent of the lead content in the single phase field. Minor polarization–electric field hysteresis loops and piezoelectric coefficient e31,f values after a hot poling process suggest that the point defect helps stabilize the aligned domain states. Measurements of the local nonlinear response show an increased low response cluster size with decreasing PbO content, indicating that PbO deficiency acts to reduce domain wall motion where it is already low.