The ferroelectric properties of Ce-doped PZT/BFO multilayer thin films prepared using the sol-gel method

Abstract

In this study, Ce-doped PZT/BFO multilayer thin films were prepared by the spin-coating method on Pt(200 nm)/Ti(10 nm)/SiO2(100 nm)/P-Si(100) substrates using Bi0.9Ce0.1FeO3 and Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 metal alkoxide solutions. The coating and heating procedure was repeated several times to form multilayer thin films. All PZT/BCFO multilayer thin films display the typical XRD pattern of a polycrystalline perovskite structure with a uniform, void-free grain microstructure. The thickness of the PZT and BCFO film after one cycle of drying/sintering was approximately 30 nm, and all films consist of fine grains with a relatively flat surface morphology. The relative dielectric constant and dielectric losses of the six-coated PZT/BCFO thin film were approximately 360 and 0.003%, respectively. As the number of coatings increased, the remanent polarization and coercive field increased. The values for the six-coated PZT/BCFO thin film were 17.6 mu C/cm(2) and 53 kV/cm, respectively.