Fabrication of c-axis oriented Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 thin films on Si(100) substrates using MgO intermediate layer

Tetragonal perovskite Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O-3 (PZT) ferroelectric thin films with single c-axis orientation were successfully fabricated on Si(100) substrates using an intermediate layer of MgO thin film. The (100) oriented MgO intermediate layers can be prepared on Si(100) substrates with low growth rate during RF magnetron sputtering at a substrate temperature of 300 degrees C. On the (100) oriented MgO intermediate layer, PZT can be deposited using a digital Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method at 480 degrees C. By analysis of cross sections of the PZT/MgO/Si(100) stacked structure using focused ion beam observation, it is clearly shown that a uniform MgO layer causes the deposited PZT him to consist of a uniform tetragonal perovskite phase. However, a nonuniform MgO layer causes the PZT film to contain an additional phase because of direct contact between PZT and the Si substrate.