Growth of highly (100) oriented lead zirconate titanate films on silicon and glass substrates using lanthanum nitrate as a buffer layer

Highly oriented lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3; PZT] thin films were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si and glass substrates by the sol-gel method using lanthanum nitrate as a buffer layer. When the lanthanum nitrate buffer layer was annealed at temperatures between 450 and 550 degreesC, the PZT layer coated onto this buffer layer showed strong (100) orientation. The film deposited on the buffer layer had this orientation, regardless of the other deposition conditions, such as the pyrolysis temperature, pyrolysis time, annealing temperature, and heating rate. The lanthanum nitrate buffer layer also acted as a very effective diffusion barrier against Pb-Si interdiffusion, thus allowing for the direct deposition of PZT films on Si, SiO2/Si, and glass substrates. Using this buffer layer, highly oriented PZT film was fabricated stably and reproducibly, regardless of substrate material and the coating conditions. The nature of the lanthanum nitrate buffer layer and its role in the growth of the highly (100) oriented PZT films were investigated. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.