Bottom electrode crystallization of Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ thin films made by RF magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The bottom electrode crystallization method was used for the heat-treatment of amorphous Pb(Zr 0.52 , Ti 0.48 )O 3 thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering on Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates. Two different heating and cooling rates were applied and two different contact wires (W and Pt) were alternately used for the Joule heat generation in the Pt bottom electrode. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of the films were compared with the properties of the films crystallized using halogen lamp annealing in the same conditions. All the PZT samples showed similar ferroelectric properties at room temperature, with high dielectric constant and remanent polarization values as well as good resistance to ferroelectric fatigue, the Al/PZT/Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si capacitors having low leakage currents. The experimental results obtained show that the bottom electrode crystallization method is a cheap and low power consumption method which can successfully replace the classical crystallization methods.