Electrode effects on electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films

The degradation phenomena of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films were investigated on Pt and RuO/sub x/ electrodes. The hysteresis properties were measured for different Zr/Ti ratios. Films with composition close to the morphotropic phase boundary showed high P/sub r/ and low E/sub c/ values on RuO/sub x/ electrodes for up to 2*10/sup 11/ test cycles. The degradation properties were studied as a function of film thickness by an accelerated unified test which can evaluate fatigue and breakdown simultaneously. It was observed that thinner PZT films on RuO/sub x/ electrodes showed the best electrical properties. Furthermore, under a DC field the thinner films showed lower leakage current and higher breakdown fields.<
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