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Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) microtubes were assembled onto pre-patterned substrates using dielectrophoresis of a colloidal suspension of microtubes dispersed in isopropyl alcohol. High aspect ratio tubes with an outer diameter of 2 μm and length of about 30 μm were prepared by vacuum infiltration of mesoporous silicon templates. An interdigitated electrode structure with gap sizes ranging from 2 μm to 15 μm was patterned on a silicon substrate via conventional lithography. This allowed a non-uniform alternating electric field to be generated. The influence of the electrode gap along with the effects of the waveform, amplitude and frequency of an applied signal on the dielectrophoretic assembly of PZT microtubes was investigated. A square wave signal of 5 V rms and 10 Hz was found to be the most effective in assembling the microtubes on a 12 μm electrode gap. The results show potential for the dielectrophoretic technique in realizing integrated 3D devices using the high aspect ratio piezoelectric tube structures as building blocks.

Piezoelectric thin films are of increasing interest in low-voltage micro electromechanical systems for sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting. They also serve as model systems to study fundamental behavior in piezoelectrics. Next-generation technologies such as ultrasound pill cameras, flexible ultrasound arrays, and energy harvesting systems for unattended wireless sensors will all benefit from improvements in the piezoelectric properties of the films. This paper describes tailoring the composition, microstructure, orientation of thin films, and substrate choice to optimize the response. It is shown that increases in the grain size of lead-based perovskite films from 75 to 300 nm results in 40 and 20% increases in the permittivity and piezoelectric coefficients, respectively. This is accompanied by an increase in the nonlinearity in the response. Band excitation piezoresponse force microscopy was used to interrogate the nonlinearity locally. It was found that chemical solution-derived PbZr(0.52)Ti(0.48)O(3) thin films show clusters of larger nonlinear response embedded in a more weakly nonlinear matrix. The scale of the clusters significantly exceeds that of the grain size, suggesting that collective motion of many domain walls contributes to the observed Rayleigh behavior in these films. Finally, it is shown that it is possible to increase the energy-harvesting figure of merit through appropriate materials choice, strong imprint, and composite connectivity patterns.

Antiferroelectric lead zirconate (PZ) thin films were deposited by excimer laser ablation technique on Pt-coated Si substrates. Antiferroelectric thin film compositions are potential candidates for high charge storage and microelectromechanical systems. The antiferroelectric nature in PZ thin films was confirmed by means of double hysteresis behaviour in polarisation vs. applied electric field and double butterfly response in capacitance vs. applied voltage measurements. The maximum spontaneous polarisation observed was $37 \mu C/cm^2$ with zero remnant polarisation at an applied electric field of 225 kV/cm. PZ thin films showed a polycrystalline multigrain structure and detail comprehensive study of dielectric relaxation and ac electrical properties were carried out.

Paraelectric lanthanum doped lead titanate (PLT) thin films for high permittivity material applications were grown on Pt-coated Si-substrates by the laser ablation technique. A rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process was adopted to induce crystallization and a polycrystalline fine microstructure was obtained. The dielectric properties, capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics and polarization hysteresis (P–E) with temperature were studied. The dielectric constant was approximately 720 while the dissipation factor was approximately 0.04 at room temperature for a 0.9-μm thick film at 100 kHz frequency. Hysteresis behavior was observed in C–V and P–E responses and was attributed to the presence of charge accumulation either in the grain boundaries or in the electrode–film interface. The charge storage density aspect was studied for DRAM applications and the obtained charge storage density at 6 V was 4.5 μC/cm2. The density of surface charge states was approximately 1013 cm2/eV at room temperature and the effect of temperature and frequency was studied and correlated with the properties of the film.

Utilization of antiferroelectric thin films was proposed for high charge storage capacitors and transducer applications. The volume changes that are associated with the AFE⇒ FE and FE ⇒ AFE phases are high enough to use them in MEMs device technology. Lead zirconate was the first identified antiferroelectric compound with a reported dielectric phase transition temperature of ∼ 230°C. In this article, deposition of lead zirconate thin films by a pulsed excimer laser ablation technique is reported. The antiferroelectric nature of the lead zirconate thin films were confirmed by the presence of double hysteresis loop in polarization vs. applied electric field response as well as double butterfly behavior in capacitance vs. voltage characteristics. The variations in the polarization hysteresis with temperature were elucidated in detail. The switching times between the field induced FE and AFE phases (backward switching) were studied at various applied electric fields.

Antiferroelectric compositions have many potential applications in energy conversion and microelectromechanical systems. Electric field induced phase transitions between ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases were studied in antiferroelectric lead zirconate and modified lead zirconate titanate stannate family thin films for various smart system applications. Thin films of various antiferroelectric thin film compositions such as $PbZrO_3$, Nb- and La-modified lead zirconate titanate stannate were processed by the pulsed excimer laser ablation technique. Dielectric, hysteresis, pyroelectric and switching properties were studied in detail for a new generation of functional materials. A comparative study of functional properties is presented with these antiferroelectric compositions in comparison with the conventional ferroelectric compositions

The dielectric and electrical properties of excimer laser ablated processed paraelectric $(Ba_{0.5},Sr_{0.5})TiO_3$ ferroelectric Bi-layered $SrBi_2(Ta_{0.5}Nb_{0.5})_2O_9$ and antiferroelectric $(PbZrO_3)$ thin films have been investigated. The effect of processing parameters on the microstructure of the films and the functional properties has been presented in detail. Some of the recent studies of stress induced effects, dielectric, hysteresis and ac and dc electrical properties have been highlighted in conjunction with microstructures of the films

Antiferroelectric lead zirconate (PZ) thin films were deposited by pulsed laser ablation on platinum-coated silicon substrates. Films showed a polycrystalline pervoskite structure upon annealing at 650 °C for 5–10 min. Dielectric properties were investigated as a function of temperature and frequency. The dielectric constant of PZ films was 220 at 100 kHz with a dissipation factor of 0.03. The electric field induced transformation from the antiferroelectric phase to the ferroelectric phase was observed through the polarization change, using a Sawyer–Tower circuit. The maximum polarization value obtained was 40 μC/cm2. The average fields to excite the ferroelectric state, and to reverse to the antiferroelectric state were 71 and 140 kV/cm, respectively. The field induced switching was also observed through double maxima in capacitance–voltage characteristics. Leakage current was studied in terms of current versus time and current versus voltage measurements. A leakage current density of 5×10−7 A/cm2 at 3 V...

Utilization of antiferroelectric thin films was proposed for high charge storage capacitors and transducer applications. The volume changes that are associated with the AFE [right double arrow] FE and FE [right double arrow] AFE phases are high enough to use them in MEMs device technology. Lead zirconate was the first identified antiferroelectric compound with a reported dielectric phase transition temperature of [similar to] 230°C. In this article, deposition of lead zirconate thin films by a pulsed excimer laser ablation technique is reported. The antiferroelectric nature of the lead zirconate thin films were confirmed by the presence of double hysteresis loop in polarization vs. applied electric field response as well as double butterfly behavior in capacitance vs. voltage characteristics. The variations in the polarization hysteresis with temperature were elucidated in detail. The switching times between the field induced FE and AFE phases (backward switching) were studied at various applied electric fields

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) incorporating active piezoelectric layers offer integrated actuation, sensing, and transduction. The broad implementation of such active MEMS has long been constrained by the inability to integrate materials with giant piezoelectric response, such as Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O(3)-PbTiO(3) (PMN-PT). We synthesized high-quality PMN-PT epitaxial thin films on vicinal (001) Si wafers with the use of an epitaxial (001) SrTiO(3) template layer with superior piezoelectric coefficients (e(31,f) = -27 ± 3 coulombs per square meter) and figures of merit for piezoelectric energy-harvesting systems. We have incorporated these heterostructures into microcantilevers that are actuated with extremely low drive voltage due to thin-film piezoelectric properties that rival bulk PMN-PT single crystals. These epitaxial heterostructures exhibit very large electromechanical coupling for ultrasound medical imaging, microfluidic control, mechanical sensing, and energy harvesting.

Uncooled Infrared (IR) focal plane arrays are an enabling technology for both military and commercial high sensitivity night vision cameras. IR imaging is accomplished using MEMS microbolometers fabricated on read-out integrated circuits and depends critically on the material used to absorb the incoming IR radiation. Suitable detector materials must exhibit a large temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and low noise characteristics to efficiently detect IR photons while also maintaining compatibility with standard integrated circuit (IC) processing. The most commonly used material in uncooled infrared imaging detectors is vanadium oxide deposited by reactive ion beam sputtering. Here we present a comparison of vanadium oxide thin films grown via commercial reactive ion beam sputtering to films grown using reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. Films deposited using both methods were optically and structurally characterized using Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The measured electrical properties of the films were found to be very sensitive to the deposition conditions used. The ion beam sputtered films contained twinned FCC VOx nanocrystals with sub-nanometer twin spacing, in the form of large 10-20 nm wide columnar/conical grains. In contrast, the un-biased magnetron sputtered films consisted of equiax grains of FCC VOx (5-10 nm) encapsulated in an amorphous matrix. However, applying an RF bias to the sample substrate during the magnetron sputtering process, resulted in films that are similar in structure to ion beam deposited VOx. These differences in microstructure and composition were then correlated to the measured resistivities and TCRs of the films.

Polycrystalline films of SrBi2Nb2O9 were grown using pulsed-laser ablation. The ferroelectric properties were achieved by low-temperature deposition followed by a subsequent annealing process. The lower switching voltage was obtained by lowering the thickness, which did not affect the insulating nature of the films. The hysteresis results showed an excellent square-shaped loop with results (Pr = 6 μC/cm2, Ec = 100 kV/cm) in good agreement with earlier reports. The films also exhibited a dielectric constant of 250 and a dissipation factor of 0.02. The transport studies indicated an ohmic behavior, while higher voltages induced a bulk space charge.

Highly oriented and polycrystalline zirconium titanate thin films were deposited onto a p-type silicon substrate using laser ablation technique. Capacitance–voltage characteristics of metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors were investigated in the temperature range between room temperature and 250°C for both the polycrystalline and highly oriented zirconium titanate thin films. The high frequency C–V curve has been measured at room temperature. There is a transition to low frequency C–V curve on supplying thermal energy to the MOS capacitor. A plot of the transition frequency versus reciprocal temperature shows an activation energy of $n_i$, which is dependent on the temperature and is equal to half of the silicon band gap energy. This indicates that the dominating mechanism is the generation–recombination of the minority carriers in the space charge region, related to bulk traps of silicon.