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The electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films are sensitive to structural disorders. However, the harmful structural defects are often difficult to be characterized by conventional characterization techniques. Here, we demonstrate that the local structures of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric thin films with different amorphous phase contents can be determined using x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy of synchrotron radiation. The results showed that XAFS spectroscopy is a powerful technique to quantify the amorphous phase content in ferroelectric thin films. Influences of the amorphous phase on local structures and properties of ferroelectric thin films were further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The effects of thermal annealing treatments on fatigue recovery of lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric thin films were investigated. The PZT thin films were prepared on Pt/TiOx/SiO2/Si electrode stacks using a chemical solution deposition method. It was found that the recovery extent of the remnant polarization, coercive electric field and relative dielectric constant depended on the annealing temperature. It was also found that the fatigue endurance of the annealed samples decreased monotonically with increasing fatigue/annealing periods with an annealing temperature of 700°C. Based on the results, a separate passive regions hypothesis for ferroelectric fatigue was proposed, which could explain the results reasonably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films depend on the quality of not only the ferroelectric thin layer but also the ferroelectric/electrode interfaces. In the present study, attempts were made to minimize the Pb depletion at the bottom electrode/ferroelectric interface in lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric thin films by adding a PbO interfacial layer using a chemical solution deposition method. The crystallographic structure of the PZT thin films with and without PbO layer were examined by X-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the thin film samples was characterized using optical microscope and atomic force microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]