Ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of bismuth titanate thin films grown on different bottom electrodes by soft chemical solution and microwave annealing

Bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12, BIT) films were evaluated for use as lead-free piezoelectric thin films in micro-electromechanical systems. The films were grown by the polymeric precursor method on LaNiO3/SiO2/Si (1 0 0) (LNO), RuO2/SiO2/Si (1 0 0) (RuO2) and Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si (1 0 0) (Pt) bottom electrodes in a microwave furnace at 700 °C for 10 min. The domain structure was investigated by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). Although the converse piezoelectric coefficient, d33, regardless of bottom electrode is around (∼40 pm/V), those over RuO2 and LNO exhibit better ferroelectric properties, higher remanent polarization (15 and 10 μC/cm2), lower drive voltages (2.6 and 1.3 V) and are fatigue-free. The experimental results demonstrated that the combination of the polymeric precursor method assisted with a microwave furnace is a promising technique to obtain films with good qualities for applications in ferroelectric and piezoelectric devices. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.