The study of the properties of lead zirconate-titanate films on silicon substrate after halogen lamps rapid thermal annealing

Ferroelectric thin films of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) are important is creation of ferroelectric MEMS, memory devices, sensors of physical quantities and converters energy. The thermal annealing is used to obtain satisfactory electro-physical parameters and optimal crystal structure PZT films. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in comparison with isothermal annealing has a possibility of selective annealing of individual layers of the multilayer PZT composition by selecting appropriate temperature and duration of the RTA. The purpose of this work is to study the phase-structural state of PZT films formed by high-frequency reactive plasma sputtering and subjected to rapid thermal annealing by halogen lamps. The PZT thin films with a thickness of 1.0 ± 0.1 µm were deposited by oxygen atmosphere high-frequency reactive plasma sputtering on silicon (100) substrates and silicon substrates with SiO₂ on surface. After applying, PZT film underwent RTA at temperatures of 600-800 °C and with speed 60 degrees/s. With X-ray phase analysis, the structure-phase composition of the PZT film is revealed. Besides that, the effect of RTA was investigated using electron microscopy. It is established that temperature change at RTA leads to a qualitative change in the phase-structural state of the PZT films as compared to their initial state. This gives a chance to use RTA in formation of the PZT films with given parameters. (paper)