Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Lead zirconate titanate thin films were deposited on Pt/TiN/BPSG/Si structures by sputtering an oxide target of nominal composition (Pb(Zr0.55,Ti0.45)O3 or PZT) in argon plasma. The PZT films were deposited at different pressures and different substrate temperatures ranging from floating temperature to 400°; the thicknesses of the sputtered films were in the 15-720 nm range. The absolute and relative cation and oxygen compositions of the thin films were determined by a new method based on the simultaneous use of Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) and Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) induced by a deuteron beam. The total deposition rate and atomic ones are observed as a function of the substrate temperature and pressure. Therefore the dependence of fil composition on pressure and substrate temperature is discussed.
Post-deposition annealing studies and ferroelectric properties are presented. The values of the remanent polarization, Pr, were in the range 5-7 µC/cm2, the coercitive field, Ec, between 15 and 25 kV/cm and the dielectric constant, µr, evaluated from capacitance measurements around 1200, depending on the process parameters.