Towards large area deposition of ferroelectric and multiferroic thin films by chemical solution processing

DI MARCO, M. B.; IMHOFF, L.; ROLDÁN, M. V.; NOHEDA, B.; ACUAUTLA, M.; PELLEGRI, N. S.; STACHIOTTI, M.

Groningen

Encuentro; ENTEG autumn meeting; 2022

Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen

This work focuses on the synthesis and characterization of nano-scale ferroelectric and multiferroic materials for application in several functional devices, such as micro-electromechanical systems, nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memories, and multi-valued logic systems.Specifically, PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (PZT) based thin films are synthesized by chemical solution deposition techniques. These techniques permit the fabrication of films within a wide range of compositions, with precise stoichiometry control and low cost. PZT is a widely used material with excellent ferroelectric properties, and the addition of dopants allows tuning of different properties on it.For the synthesis of PZT precursor solution, a modified sol-gel approach with acetoin as a chelating agent is used. Excellent-quality PZT thin films are achieved by spin coating deposition method onto platinized silicon substrates. The same approach can also be successfully applied to the following systems:•Fe3+/Nb5+ co-doped PZT thin films•Ag and Cu2O nanoparticle-doped PZT thin filmsCurrently, the synthesis of similar samples by ultrasonic spray coating is under development. This technique allows the fabrication of films with good thickness uniformity over large areas, being more suitable for large-scale fabrication. The characterization of the samples is focused on structural, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and magnetic properties. The study of the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect is also of interest. This work is supported by the H2020 MSCA-RISE project “Memristive and multiferroic materials for logic units in nanoelectronics”.