This paper contains results of investigations of inhomogeneous states caused by the coexistence of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases in lead-zirconate-titanate based solid solutions. The domains of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases with sizes of the order of 20 to 30 nm coexist in the bulk of the samples due to a small difference in the free energies of the phases. The coherent character of interphase boundaries leads to the concentration of elastic stresses along these boundaries. Elastic stresses cause the local decomposition of the solid solution due to the circumstance that equivalent positions of the crystal lattice are occupied by ions with different sizes. Larger ions are driven out into domains with larger crystal cell parameters and smaller ions are pushed into domains with smaller parameters of the crystal cell. The sizes of segregates formed in this way are of the order 8 to 15 nm. 77.84.-s, 77.80.Bh, 77.80.Dj
IntroductionSolid solutions of complex oxides with perovskite crystal structure have been the focus intense fundamental studies for last forty years due to their importance for a wide variety of applications 12345 . The technological interest arises from the fact that these materials may be prepared with very high values of dielectric, piezoelectric, electrostrictive, and electrooptic constants in wide temperature ranges, finding applications like actuators, nonvolatile and dynamic random access memories, capacitors, microelectromechanic devices, electrooptic modulators, optical switches, etc. Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) solid solutions Pb 1-3x/2 La x (Zr 1-y Ti y )O 3 possess wide intervals of thermodynamic parameters in which the domains of the ferroelectric (FE) and antiferroelectric (AFE) phases coexist due to the small difference in free energies of FE and AFE states. The inhomogeneous state of the coexisting phases was studied by several groups of researchers 5678910111213141516171819 . It was found that this inhomogeneous state is stable with respect to homogeneous states of each phase. The last circumstance leads to a number of remarkable effects 5-8,10,15,16 . PLZT solid solutions with La content x ≥ 6% are of significant interest in connection with investigations of the nature of the so-called relaxor state 202122232425 . In this work the results of studies of inhomogeneous states caused by coexistence of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases in lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) based solid solutions and formation of nanostructures caused by local decomposition of these solid solutions are presented. The following systems of solid solutions were chosen for our studies: PLZT with La-content x = 0.06, and Pb 1-x (La 1/2 L 1/2 ) x (Zr 1-y Ti y )O 3 (PLLZT) with х = 0.10, 0.15. In what follows we are going to use the following symbols for solid solution compositions Х/100-Y/Y, where X and Y show the percentage content of substituting elements. The "composition -temperature" phase diagrams (Y-T phase diagrams) for both systems of solid solutions are similar. T...