Ferroelectric properties of heterolayered lead zirconate titanate thin films

Heterolayered Pb(Zr1 - x Ti (x) )O-3 thin films consisting of alternating PbZr0.7Ti0.3O3 and PbZr0.3Ti0.7O3 layers were successfully deposited via a multistep sol-gel route assisted by spin-coating. These heterolayered PZT films, when annealed at a temperature in the range of 600-700 degrees C show (001)/(100) preferred orientation, demonstrate desired ferroelectric and dielectric properties. The most interesting ferroelectric and dielectric properties were obtained from the six-layered PZT thin film annealed at 650 degrees C, which exhibits a remanent polarization of 47.7 mu C/cm(2) and a dielectric permittivity of 1002 at 100 Hz. Reversible polarization constituents a considerably high contribution towards the ferroelectric hysteresis of the heterolayered PZT films, as shown by studies obtained from C-V and AC measurement.