The effects of P-E properties of epitaxially grown rhombohedral Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 film on the film thickness and temperature were systematically investigated. (100)-oriented rhombohedral Pb(Zr0.65Ti0.35)O3 films with 50 - 3200 nm in thickness were grown on (100)cSrRuO3//(100)SrTiO3 substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The ratio of the remanent polarization (Pr) to saturation polarization (Psat), the Pr/Psat ratio, at room temperature decreased with decreasing the film thickness. Moreover, the Pr/Psat ratio at 10 K of 180-nm-thick films was smaller than that of 3200-nm-thick film and dropped at lower temperature with increasing the film thickness. These results suggest that the small Pr/Psat ratio of thin film at room temperature is originated to both of small Pr/Psat ratio even at 10K and their drop starting at lower temperature when the temperature increased.

Rare-earth-substituted tetragonal lead zirconate titanate thin films were synthesized for improving the ferroelectric property of conventional lead zirconate titanate. Thin films of Pb1.00REx (Zr0.40Ti0.60)1-(3x /4)O3 (x = 0.02, RE = Y, Dy, Er and Yb) were deposited on (111)Pt/Ti/SiO2/(100)Si substrates by a chemical solution deposition (CSD). B-site substitution using rare-earth cations described above enhanced the crystal anisotropy, i.e., ratio of PZT lattice parameters c/a. Remanent polarization (Pr) of PZT film was enhanced by Y3+-, Dy3+- and Er3+-substitution from 20 μC/cm2 up to 26, 25 and 26 μC/cm2 respectively, while ion substitution using Yb3+ degraded the Pr value down to 16 μC/cm2. These films had similar coercive fields (Ec) of around 100 kV/cm. Improving the ferroelectric property of PZT film by rare-earth-substitution would be ascribed to the enhancement of the crystal anisotropy. We concluded that ion substitution using some rare-earth cations, such as Y3+, Dy3+ or Er3+, is one of promising technique for improving the ferroelectric property of PZT film.

Influences of the B-site substitution using Dy3+ ion on the crystal structure and ferroelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films were investigated. Dy3+-substituted PZT films with nominal chemical compositions of Pb1.00Dyx (Zr0.40Ti0.60)1-(3x/4)O3 (x = 0 ∼ 0.06) were fabricated by a chemical solution deposition (CSD). Polycrystalline PZT films with preferential orientation of (111)PZT were obtained on (111)Pt/TiO2/SiO2/(100)Si substrates, while epitaxially-grown (111)PZT films were fabricated on (111)SrRuO3//(111)Pt//(100)YSZ//(100)Si substrate. Ratio of PZT lattice parameters (c/a), which corresponds to its crystal anisotropy, was enhanced by the Dy3+-substitution with x = 0.02. Spontaneous polarization (Ps) of Dy3+-substituted PZT film (x = 0.02) along polar [001] axis of PZT lattice was estimated from saturation polarization (Psat) value of the epitaxially-grown (111)PZT film on (111)SrRuO3//(111)Pt//(100)YSZ//(100)Si to be 84 μC/cm2 that was significantly larger than that of non-substituted PZT (= 71 μC/cm2). We concluded that the enhancement of Ps value could be achieved by the Dy3+-substitution that promoted the crystal anisotropy of PZT lattice.

a-/b-axis-oriented epitaxial Bi4Ti3O12 and neodymium-substituted Bi4Ti3O12 films with a different a-domain fraction, V(100)/[V(100)+V(010)], were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition above the phase transition temperature. It was demonstrated that the saturation polarization observed for the a-/b-axis-oriented film is proportional to the a-domain fraction estimated by x-ray diffraction. The liner relationship passing through the origin revealed that the 90° domain switching by an external electric field hardly occurred. The extrapolation gave spontaneous polarization of 58 μC/cm2 for a pure a-axis-oriented (Bi3.5Nd0.5)Ti3O12 film. The domain fraction was investigated as a function of thermal strain originated from a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the film and substrates. The domain fraction of the films changed with the thermal strain along the in-plane [010] in tetragonal a-axis-oriented films as well as epitaxially grown tetragonal Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 films.