Characteristics of Sputtered Lead Zirconate Titanate Thin Films with Different Layer Configurations and Large Thickness.

To evaluate the characteristics of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films (about 10 lm thick) with three different sputtering configurations-single-layer deposition (SL), multilayer deposition with internal electrodes (ML), and multistep deposition (MS)-were prepared. The SL films exhibited poorer dielectric characteristics than the ML and MS films. The reliability and piezoelectric characteristics were especially high in the MS film, with an e31,f constant of.9.5 C m.2. To investigate the porosity of the films, reconstructed 3-dimensional SEM technique is employed. Reconstructed 3-dimensional SEM images revealed decreased void densities in the ML and MS films, which improved their performance. The MS configuration provided the best dielectric and piezoelectric performance of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 films.