Electrical properties and microstructures of PbZrTiO3 thin films prepared by laser annealing techniques

PbZrTiO3 (PZT) films with 10 mol % excess lead were prepared by a metal-organic decomposition (MOD) method on a Pt-precoated Si substrate. The deposited films were first pyrolyzed at 400degreesC for 30 min and then an excimer laser with KrF radiation and a continuous-wave CO2 laser were employed for annealing. The experimental results indicated that the remanent polarization of PZT films for CO2-laser-annealed specimens is seven times higher than that of KrF-laser-annealed ones. Transmission electron microscopic investigations suggest that the upper layer of KrF-laser-annealed PZT films crystallized and films at the bottom layer remained amorphous. The combined series of crystallized and amorphous layers degrades the ferroelectric properties of PZT thin films. In contrast, Transmission electron microscopy investigations reveal more homogenous microstructures and better crystallinity for PZT films annealed using the CO2 laser. CO2 laser annealing improves ferroelectric properties of PZT films and good-quality PZT thin films could be obtained at low temperatures.