Texture control of Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 thin films with different post-annealing processes

The non-crystalline Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ thin films sputtered on Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) substrates at room temperature were crystallized by conventional furnace annealing (CFA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA), respectively. It was found that the RTA process favored the (1 1 1)-preferred orientation in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films while the CFA process favored the (1 0 0)-preferred orientation. The origin of the different orientation selection might be due to the different epitaxial nucleation mechanism. The long heating duration would lead to the aggregation of Pb and the formation of PbO(1 0 0) on film surface; therefore, the nucleation at the PbO(1 0 0)/PZT interface on film surface might lead to the (1 0 0)-preferred orientation. However, the nucleation at the PZT/Pt(1 1 1) electrode interface by RTA process would result in the formation of (1 1 1)-preferred orientation. The RTA-derived (1 1 1)-preferentially oriented PZT thin films exhibited a high remnant polarization of 35 μC/cm².