Structural, dielectric and electromechanical study of Hf-substituted BaTiO3 thin films fabricated by CSD

Hafnium-substituted barium titanate thin films were deposited on platinized silicon substrates. Two different concentrations of solutions (0.1 M and 0.3 M) were used to deposit films of various compositions Ba(Ti_1-x,Hf_x)O₃ (x=0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4). The microstructure of the films depended on the concentration of the solution. Lower concentration (0.1 M) solutions led to columnar films, but with higher hafnium percent compositions the columnar structure was lost. The films which were derived from the 0.1 M concentration solutions had better dielectric and electrical properties compared to the films derived from a higher concentration (0.3 M). All the films were found to be polycrystalline in nature. The dielectric constant of the films was found to decrease with higher amounts of hafnium substitution. From the I–V characteristics it is noticed that the leakage decreases by almost four orders of magnitude with a hafnium substitution of 40%. The d₃₃ values of the films were between 23 and 5.6 pm/V for the different films. PACS 68.55.-a; 81.20.Fw; 77.84.Dy; 77.55.+f