Growth of thin ferroelectric and piezoelectric films by magnetron radiofrequency cathodic sputtering

The growth of piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin films is presented in this paper. The materials studied are : PbTiO3, PbLaTiO3, PbZrTiO3 and LiNbO3. These materials presents excellent piezoelectric properties and will must have an important impact in the microsystem (micro-sensors, micro-moving) and micro-optoelectronic development (integrated optics). In thiscontext, a monolithic integration will be a desicive parameter but with this strategy it is necessary to find a technological compatibility between semiconductor materials (silicon, gallium arsenide) and these materials (growth or annealing temperature, etching...). The films are deposited by R.F. magnetron sputtering ; we have used different substrates but we present only here the results obtained on silicon substrates. Two processes have been developed: The growth is made at room temperature and a post-annealing treatment is necessary tocrystallize the film. Two annealing treatments have been optimized: Conventionalannealing and rapid annealing. The growth is made with substrate heating ; the main objective is to obtain the desired structure without annealing treatment. The growth conditions and the annealing processes are presented ; the electrical properties of the filmsare also evaluated.