Epitaxial Growth of PLZT Thin Films and their Electro-Optic Properties

Epitaxially grown lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate (PLZT) thin films were deposited on r-cut sapphire substrates using a sol-gel method. The new deposition processes of methanol treatments brought high quality epitaxial growth of PLZT thin films. This film showed high electro-optic (EO) coefficients that were almost comparable to those of bulk PLZTs. We believe this advanced deposition technique will open the door for the future data communication systems with integrated electro-optic devices.