Search Results (2)

The aerosol deposition (AD) method utilizes high kinetic-energy submicron powders to impact and form a film on a substrate. It is a highly efficient deposition method, capable of producing films or coatings with a strong interfacial bonding and a dense nano-grain structure without thermal assistance. In this work, PbZr_0.53Ti_0.47O₃ (PZT53/47) films (~1.2 μm thick) were deposited on Pt/Ti/Si(100) substrates via the AD method. After a conventional annealing process (700 °C for 1 h), these PZT53/47 films displayed a dense, crack-free, nano-grained morphology, corresponding to an optimal electrical performance. A large maximum polarization (P_max = 70 μC/cm²) and a small coercive field (E_c = 104 kV/cm) were achieved under the maximum applicable electric field of 1.6 MV/cm. The PZT53/47 films also exhibited a large small-field dielectric constant of ~984, a high tunability of 72%, and a low leakage current of ~3.1 × 10⁻⁵ A/cm² @ 40 V. Moreover, the transverse piezoelectric coefficient (e_31.f) of these AD-processed films was as high as −4.6 C/m², comparable to those of sputter-deposited PZT53/47 films. These high-quality PZT53/47 thick films have broad applications in piezoelectric micro-electromechanical systems. Full article

In our recently published paper (Y.-Y. Wang et al., High performance LaNiO₃-buffered, (001)-oriented PZT piezoelectric films integrated on (111) Si, Appl. Phys. Lett. 121, 182902, 2022), highly (001)-oriented PZT films with a large transverse piezoelectric coefficient e_31,f prepared on (111) Si substrates were reported. This work is beneficial for the development of piezoelectric micro-electro-mechanical systems (Piezo-MEMS) because of (111) Si’s isotropic mechanical properties and desirable etching characteristics. However, the underlying mechanism for the achievement of a high piezoelectric performance in these PZT films going through a rapid thermal annealing process has not been thoroughly analyzed. In this work, we present complete sets of data in microstructure (XRD, SEM and TEM) and electrical properties (ferroelectric, dielectric and piezoelectric) for these films with typical annealing times of 2, 5, 10 and 15 min. Through data analyses, we revealed competing effects in tuning the electrical properties of these PZT films, i.e., the removal of residual PbO and proliferation of nanopores with an increasing annealing time. The latter turned out to be the dominating factor for a deteriorated piezoelectric performance. Therefore, the PZT film with the shortest annealing time of 2 min showed the largest e_31,f piezoelectric coefficient. Furthermore, the performance degradation occurred in the PZT film annealed for 10 min can be explained by a film morphology change, which involved not only the change in grain shape, but also the generation of a large amount of nanopores near its bottom interface. Full article