Ion beam analysis of high pressure deposition of epitaxial PZT thin films

Abstract Epitaxial thin films of Pb(Zr 0.53 Ti 0.47 ) (PZT) ferroelectric ceramic were successfully grown on Sr(Nb)TiO 3 (SNTO) single crystal substrates by an high-pressure RF sputtering technique. Pure O 2 was used as working gas at a pressure above 1 Torr. The crystalline films properties were evaluated by θ –2 θ DRX scans. From these measurements we concluded that the PZT layers were single crystalline and c -axis oriented with a (001)PZT||(001)SNTO crystallographic relationship. Film composition and film–substrate interface characteristics were studied by bombardment of the samples with a 2560 keV 3 He + beam. Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) technique was applied to fit the experimental spectra in order to deduce the elemental depth concentration profile of the films. The high-pressured technique represents a useful and capable method to obtaining in situ epitaxial ferroelectric thin film with high quality structural, compositional and dielectric properties, without post deposit treatment.