Thickness effects of Bi0.89Ti0.11FeO3 thin films deposited on PbZr0.2Ti0.79Nb0.01O3 buffer layers

Bi0.89Ti0.11FeO3 thin films with the thicknesses of 200-440 nm were fabricated on the 40-nm-thick PbZr0.2Ti0.79Nb0.01O3 (PZTN)-buffered Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using a metal organic decomposition process. As a result of the good insulating property and high breakdown characteristic of the PZTN buffer layer, the leakage currents in the Bi0.89Tb0.11FeO3 films are significantly reduced. All the films show well-saturated and rectangular P-E hysteresis loops without any evident leaky behavior. The remnant polarization P-r and coercive field E, for all Bi0.89Ti0.11FeO3 films are around 45-50 mu C/cm(2) and 200 kV/cm, respectively, and show weak dependent on the film thickness. The 200-nm-thick Bi0.89Ti0.11FeO3 film exhibits better fatigue-free characteristic and charge-retaining ability, and the domain backswitching is significantly restrained due to the strong anti-aging ability of the PZTN buffer layer. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.