Epitaxial growth of PbTiO(3) films on SrTiO(3) by RF magnetron sputtering

Epitaxial growth of PbTiO(3) films on (100)SrTiO(3 ) single crystal plates is investigated in detail for piezoelectric device applications. PbTiO(3) films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering at relatively low temperature and subsequently annealed. The films had a perovskite structure under a wide annealing temperature range. Epitaxial growth of PbTiO(3) films on SrTiO (3) single crystal was achieved, although there was a limitation in the maximum film thickness (<0.3 mum). A thicker film (>0.6 mum) was successfully obtained by high-temperature sputtering. Lateral overgrowth of PbTiO(3) film was attempted using a high-temperature sputtering technique. A TEM micrograph confirms that PbTiO(3) film was epitaxially grown on SrTiO(3) single crystal and overgrown laterally to cover a Pt electrode film. To characterize film quality, ferroelectric properties are investigated. The electromechanical coupling constant of the PbTiO(3) film was evaluated by analyzing impedance characteristics, and was found to be as large as 0.8.