A Practical Chelate Route for the Fabrication of PZT Thin Films

L. IMHOFF; S. BAROLIN; NORA PELLEGRI; M. STACHIOTTI

Porto

Congreso; 13th European Meeting on Ferroelectricity EMF 2015; 2015

IFIMUP-IN, FCUP - University of Porto

PZT thin films were prepared by a chelate route based on the use of acetoin (3-Hydroxy 2-butanone) as chelating agent. Unlike true sol-gel routes, the chelate route relies on the molecular modification of the alkoxide compounds through reactions with other reagents, namely chelating agents which provide stability to the precursor solutions. Compared to the 2-methoxyethanol process, chelate processes offer the advantages of relatively simple and rapid solution synthesis without involving distillation and refluxing strategies. In this work we developed an optimized chelate route for the fabrication of pyrochlore-free PZT thin films investigating the effects of the heat treatment and lead volatilization on film properties. We show that the use of acetoin as chelating agent produces the elimination of residual organic compounds at low temperature and no segregation of metallic lead during the thermal evolution of the films, in contrast to what is observed in other chelate routes based on alkanolamines