Leakage currents in ferroelectric thin films

The main mechanisms of leakage currents in thin lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric films prepared by the sol–gel method are discussed. Four specific regions are determined in I–V dependencies. At very weak fields (10–20 kV/cm), the current falls with the voltage increase as a result of depolarization. In the low fields region (about 70–100 kV/cm), the leakage current decreases with the decrease of voltage ramp speed and its components are the ohmic and displacement currents. In the high fields region (≥130 kV/cm), the leakage current increases with the decrease of step voltage ramp in contrast to the previous case. Possible conductivity mechanisms are the Poole– Frenkel emission and hopping conduction. In the transition region between above-mentioned ones (from 80–90 to ～130 kV/cm), an abrupt unstable increase of current is observed caused by breakdown of reverse bias Schottky barrier. Depolarization currents are studied for sol–gel PZT films prepared at different preparation conditions.