Growth of {100}-oriented lead zirconate titanate thin films mediated by a safe solvent. Issue 1 (8th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Godard, Nicolas; Grysan, Patrick; Defay, Emmanuel; Glinšek, Sebastjan
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 9:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 281
• Page End: 287
• Publication Date: 2020-12-08
• Subjects: Materials -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Optical materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d0tc04066e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7526

Abstract

Abstract : 1-Methoxy-2-propanol was found to be a promising safe alternative to carcinogenic and teratogenic 2-methoxyethanol as solvent for chemical solution deposition of {100}-oriented lead zirconate titanate thin films on platinized silicon. Abstract : Chemical solution deposition (CSD) is a well-established process for the fabrication of metal oxide functional layers such as piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films. The latter exhibit an enhanced electromechanical response in the presence of {100} crystalline orientation with respect to the substrate surface. Lead titanate (PbTiO3 ) seed layers are commonly used to promote the growth of this orientation on platinized silicon, which otherwise usually affords the {111} orientation. In this work, we present a comparative study of two solvents used for the preparation of PZT and PbTiO3 solutions for CSD, i.e. the popular but highly carcinogenic and teratogenic solvent 2-methoxyethanol and the benign solvent 1-methoxy-2-propanol. In addition to tremendous health and safety benefits, we show that 1-methoxy-2-propanol-derived PbTiO3 seed layers promote the {100} orientation more efficiently than their 2-methoxyethanol-derived counterparts, owing to their nanocrystalline microstructure and strong orientation. This resulted in a noticeable enhancement of the electrical and piezoelectric properties, with P r = 38 μC cm −2, E c = 55 kV cm −1, ε r = 1300, tan δ = 0.04 and e 31, f ≈ 14 C m −2 .