The effect of RuO2/Pt hybrid bottom electrode structure on the leakage and fatigue properties of chemical solution derived Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 thin films

We have investigated the effect of RuO2 (10, 30, 50 nm)/Pt layered hybrid bottom electrode structure and film composition on the leakage and fatigue properties of chemical solution derived Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O-3 (PZT) thin films. It was observed that the use of high Ti content (Zr:Ti = 30:70) films with control of excess PbO at the thin RuO2 (10 nm)/Pt bottom electrode surface reduced leakage current and showed good fatigue properties with high remanent polarization compared to the use of high Zr films (Zr:Ti = 50:50) or thicker RuO2 (30, 50 nm)/Pt bottom electrodes. Typical P-E hysteresis behavior of PZT films was observed even at an applied voltage of 3 V, demonstrating greatly improved remanence and coercivity. Fatigue and breakdown characteristics of these modified PZT thin films (Zr:Ti = 30:70) on RuO2 (10 nm)/Pt, measured at 5 V, showed stable behavior, and less than 15% fatigue degradation was observed up to 10(10) cycles.