Abstract
Self-separated Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) films were processed by a hydrothermal deposition and a rapid thermal separation method, followed by a sol–gel filling and sintering process. The films possess excellent piezoelectric and electromechanical properties close to those of bulk material. The maximum remnant polarization is over 30 μC/cm2 and the electromechanical coupling factor (kt) reaches as high as 0.52. The unique microstructure characteristics of the PZT films, such as their highly dense structure, columnar grains, well-connected grain boundaries, and well-dispersed nanopores, could all contribute to the enhanced piezoelectric and electromechanical properties.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
B. Noheda, J.A. Gonzalo, L.E. Cross, R. Guo, S.E. Park, D.E. Cox, and G. Shirane: Tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transition in a ferroelectric perovskite: The structure of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3. Phys. Rev. B 61, 8687 (2000).
Z.J. Wang, Z.P. Cao, Y. Otsuka, N. Yoshikawa, H. Kokawa, and S. Taniguchi: Low-temperature growth of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate thin films using the magnetic field of low power 2.45 GHz microwave irradiation. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 222905 (2008).
G.Y. Kang, S.W. Bae, H. Park, and T.S. Kim: Fabrication and electromechanical properties of a self-actuating Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 microcantilever using a direct patternable sol-gel method. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 042904 (2006).
E.S. Foster, C.J. Pavlin, G.R. Lockwood, L.K. Ryan, K.A. Harasiewicz, L. Berube, and A.M. Rauth: Principles and applications of ultrasound backscatter microscopy. IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 40, 608 (1993).
D.L. Polla and L.F. Francis: Ferroelectric thin films in microelectromechanical systems applications. MRS Bull. 21, 59 (1996).
F. Bernardini, V. Fiorentini, and D. Vanderbilt: Spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric constants of III-V nitrides. Phys. Rev. B 56, 10024 (1997).
A. Abrar, D. Zhang, B. Su, T.W. Button, K.J. Kirk, and S. Cochran: 1–3 connectivity piezoelectric ceramic–polymer composite transducers made with viscous polymer processing for high frequency ultrasound. Ultrasonics 42, 479 (2004).
M. Ishikawa, M.K. Kurosawa, A. Endoh, and S. Takeuchi: Lead zirconate titanate thick-film ultrasonic transducer for 1 to 20 MHz frequency bands fabricated by hydrothermal polycrystal growth. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 44, 4342 (2005).
Q.F. Zhou, K.K. Shung, and Y. Huang: Improvement electrical properties of sol–gel derived lead zirconate titanate thick films for ultrasonic transducer application. J. Mater. Sci. 42, 4480 (2007).
I. Kanno, S. Fujii, T. Kamada, and R. Takayama: Piezoelectric properties of c-axis oriented Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 thin films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 1378 (1997).
J.S. Horwitz, K.S. Grabowski, D.B. Chrisey, and R.E. Leuchtner: In situ deposition of epitaxial PbZr xTi 1-xO 3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition. Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1565 (1991).
B.P. Zhu, Q.F. Zhou, J. Shi, K.K. Shung, S. Irisawa, and S. Takeuchi: Self-separated hydrothermal lead zirconate titanate thick films for high frequency transducer applications. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 102901 (2009).
J. Cho, M. Anderson, R. Richards, D. Bahr, and C. Richards: Optimization of electromechanical coupling for a thin-film PZT membrane: I. Modeling. J. Micromech. Microeng. 15, 1797 (2005).
J. Cho, M. Anderson, R. Richards, D. Bahr, and C. Richards: Optimization of electromechanical coupling for a thin-film PZT membrane: II. Experiment. J. Micromech. Microeng. 15, 1804 (2005).
T. Granzow, U. Dorfler, T. Woike, M. Wohlecke, R. Pankrath, M. Imlau, and W. Kleemann: Influence of pinning effects on the ferroelectric hysteresis in cerium-doped Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6.Phys. Rev. B 63, 174101 (2001).
IEEE Standard on Piezoelectricity: Std. 176-1987 (IEEE, New York, 1987).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research effort at Texas A&M University was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF-1007969 and NSF-0846504). The effort at Los Alamos National Laboratory was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. The effort at University of Southern California was partially supported by National Institutes of Health P41-EB2182. BHP was partially supported by the World Class University program through the National Research Foundation funded by Ministry Of Education, Science and Technology (Grant No. R31-2008-000-10057-0).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Su, Q., Zhu, B., Lee, J.H. et al. Self-separated PZT thick films with bulk-like piezoelectric and electromechanical properties. Journal of Materials Research 26, 1431–1435 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.115
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.115