Imprint of La-Sr-Co-O/Pb-La-Zr-Ti-O/La-Sr-Co-O heterostructures grown by pulsed laser deposition

La-Sr-Co-O(LSCO)/Pb-La-Zr-Ti-O(PLZT)/La-Sr-Co-O heterostructures with different crystalline quality have been grown on LaAlO3 and Si with a bismuth titanate template layer. Imprint of the heterostructures are investigated in comparison with fatigue and retention. Oxygen ambient during cooling the heterostructures was also varied to investigate the imprint. With consideration of the switching behavior caused by imprint, imprint behavior was deconvoluted from fatigue and retention. In epitaxial PLZT capacitors grown on LaAlO3, imprint behavior was found to be significantly dependent on the oxygen ambient. As the oxygen ambient became more reducing, the capacitors developed more voltage asymmetry in hysteresis loops and a more preferred polarization state directed towards the top electrode. On the other hand, oriented PLZT capacitors exhibited less pronounced effect of the oxygen ambient on the imprint behavior.