Low temperature sintering of screen-printed Pb(ZrTi)O3 thick films

Abstract

There has been increasing interest in ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films for the applications in piezoelectric and pyroelectric devices. Many potential applications require a film thickness of above 10 μm for higher force, better sensitivity and stability. But it is very difficult to fabricate the PZT thick film on the silicon substrate because of the volatility of PbO and the interdiffusion of the Pb and Si through the bottom electrode during the sintering at normal temperatures (such as above 1200°C). We speculated densification and reaction mechanism of the PZT thick films fabricated at relatively low temperature (under 1000°C) without sintering aids. The PZT thick films were screen-printed on Pt / Al₂O₃ substrate using a paste of PbO, ZrO₂ and TiO₂ powder mixture. Highly densified PZT thick films could be fabricated on Pt / Al₂O₃ substrate at 1000°C, and we achieved the density, remanent polarization, coercive field, dielectric permittivity, dissipation factor and breakdown field of 98%, 10 μC/cm² and 20 kV/cm, 540, 0.009 and 15 MV/m, respectively. The results show the possibility of densification of the PZT thick film at relatively low temperature without sintering aids, and the results are promising for the use of PZT thick films in various applications.