Influence of the deposition parameters controlled by OES on PZT thin film properties deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films have been deposited, in a reactive argon/oxygen gas mixture, from a metallic target of nominal composition Pb-1.1(Zr-0.4 Ti-0.6) by rf magnetron sputtering on Si substrates and Pt/TiN/Ti/SiO2/Si structures. During plasma deposition, in situ Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) measurements show clearly a correlation between the oxygen emission line evolution and the thin film composition.;As a result, the cathode surface state can be controlled by OES to ensure a good compositional transferability from the target to the film and reproducibility of thin film properties for given values of deposition parameters. Using this approach, and after annealing of as-deposited thin films by Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA), the PZT films exhibited a well-saturated hysteresis loop at an applied electric field of 300 kV/cm with P-r of 48 mu C/cm(2); the dielectric constant and dissipator factor at a frequency of 100 kHz were 914 and 0.04, respectively.