Characterization of dielectric and electro-optic properties of PLZT 9/65/35 films on sapphire for electro-optic applications

Abstract

Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) thin films were deposited on r-plane sapphire at low temperatures by RF triode magnetron sputtering using lead compensated hot-pressed targets. To obtain fully perovskite phase in the films, two types of post-deposition processing were investigated: rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and furnace annealing (FA). Dielectric and electro-optic properties of PLZT films were found to be strongly dependent on annealing conditions. The peak dielectric constant of the films were 1200 and 2800 with Curie temperatures of 110 degrees C and 190 degrees C after RTA and FA processing, respectively. The dielectric losses in the films were fairly low; tan deltas were less than 0.02 after RTA and less than 0.04 after FA processing. The films showed good optical transmission characteristics after annealing and an anomalously large effective quadratic electro-optic effect was observed in one furnace annealed film.

Longitudinal electro-optic effect of highly (100) oriented (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O₃ film grown on a transparent Al-doped ZnO electrode

“…From the slope value, the longitudinal Kerr coefficient R 13 of 180 nm 2 /V 2 was also calculated using the ordinary refractive index of PLZT films (n o = 2.45) 23) at = 1550 nm. Although the longitudinal EO coefficient of AZO/PLZT/ AZO multilayer films is higher than that reported (below 100 nm 2 /V 2 ) 21), 22) of the single PLZT thin films, the value of this work is smaller than that (380 nm 2 /V 2 ) of conventional sintered PLZT bulk. 24) The main reason explaining the following equations using a quadratic EO coefficient g and polarization P is as follows:…”

Wet etching of sol-gel deposited lead lanthanum zirconate titanate for photonic crystal applications

“…2b), in good agreement with literature data. 5,6 In addition, the pyrochlore phase (2θ = 29º), which may be formed due to Pb evaporation during fabrication, is not present in the film. We also find that decreasing the Pb excess to 20% yields a film with significant pyrochlore content after sintering, unless a sacrificial of PbO is deposited on top (data not shown).…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Depending on whether the film is ferroelectric or not, PLZT displays linear (∆n i = -1/2 n 3 r ij E j , Pockels effect) or quadratic (∆n i = -1/2 n 3 r ijk E j E k , Kerr effect) change in refractive index ∆n i when upon application of a transverse bias field E ij , with the magnitude determined by its electrooptic coefficient r ijk . PLZT of certain compositions such as PLZT 8/65/35 (x/y/1-y) exhibit high values of r ijk and good transparency on the operating wavelength, making them good candidates for intergrated electrooptic switches with low power consumption.…”

Growth mode of sol-gel derived PLT seeding layers on glass substrates and its effect on templating the oriented growth of PLZT thin films

“…Figure 6 shows the TE ͑transverse electric, parallel to film surface͒ and TM ͑transverse magnetic, perpendicular to the surface͒ guided-mode spectra for the as-developed PLZT films. 26,27 The birefringence shift in the PLZT thin films under the electric field of 0-200 kV/cm is shown in Fig. The sharp reflectivity dips indicated a good confinement of light into the waveguide layer of the films.…”