Effect of the heating rate for preheating process on the composition and phase transformation of sol-gel derived lead zirconate titanate thin film

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT, 53/47) thin firms were successfully fabricated on multi-layers substrate by the spin-coating sol-gel process. The effects of different heating rates on the composition and phase transformation of PZT films were discussed. This study focused on the slow heating rate (1 degrees C/min) to the first preheating step (150 degrees C) and to second pyrolysis step (350 degrees C). By XRD method, PZT films contained entirely pure perovskite phase annealing at 700 degrees C for 30 min for the slow heating rate procedure. By using EPMA analysis, the composition of PZT thin film derived by this procedure was indeed located at the MPB region. Furthermore, the phase coexistence was evidenced by the BEI analysis.