Crystallization of (Bi,Nd)4Ti3O12 films in N2 environment by chemical solution deposition

(Bi,Nd)₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BNT) ferroelectric films were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by chemical solution deposition and crystallized in an N₂ environment after pre-annealing in air at 500 °C. The effect of crystalline temperature on the structural and electrical properties of the BNT films was studied. The BNT films annealed in N₂ in the temperature range of 630 °C to 670 °C were crystallized well and the average grain size increased with increasing crystalline temperature, while the remanent polarization and dielectric constant of the films are not a monotonic function of the crystalline temperature. The BNT films crystallized at 650 °C have the largest remanent polarization value of 2P_r=63.6 μC/cm², a dielectric constant of 344 at 10 kHz, and a fatigue-free characteristic. A positive correlation between the remanent polarization and the dielectric constant of the BNT films has been observed. PACS 81.20.Fw; 81.40.Ef; 77.84.-s