Fatigue properties of lanthanum strontium manganate-lead zirconate titanate epitaxial thin film heterostructures produced by a chemical solution deposition method

A liquid-precursor process was used to produce an epitaxial all-oxide ferroelectric memory device structure. The lanthanum strontium manganate-lead zirconate titanate-lanthanum strontium manganate (LSMO-PZT-LSMO) structure used for this device shows excellent polarization and fatigue behavior with a remnant polarization P-r of 42 mu C/cm(2) and a coercive field E-c of 68 keV. The polarization was found to only slightly degrade after over 10(10) fatigue cycles. This behavior is contrasted with epitaxial PZT using a metal top electrode. In addition, the use of a top LSMO electrode was a sufficient barrier to Pb loss during heating to allow subsequent (or prolonged) heat treatments that would generally lead to Pb loss.