Rapid Thermal Processing of Ferroelectric Thin Films

The preparation of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films by rapid thermal processing (RTP) is reported. The films were deposited by chemical sol gel and physical sputter techniques. The heating rate of RTP was found to have significant influence on the crystallization behavior. Faster heating rates lead to lowering of the crystallization temperature and reduction of grain size. PZT films were obtained with dielectric constants:_ 1000, remanent polarizations between 20 and 30μC/cm2, coercive fields 20 to 60kV/cm, and no significant fatigue for 109 to 1010 stressing cycles.