Imprint of (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films with various crystalline qualities

(Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 (PLZT) thin films with various crystalline qualities, i.e., epitaxial, oriented, and polycrystalline, have been grow. These PLZT thin films cooled at various oxygen cooling pressures were found to have different asymmetric switching and imprint behaviors, depending on the crystalline quality of the PLZT thin films. It was found that the initial polarization state of as-grown PLZT thin films is an important indicator to determine further imprint behavior. Epitaxial PLZT thin-film capacitors were prepolarized in an as-grown state and further exhibited the large dependence of asymmetric switching and imprint behavior on the oxygen cooling pressure. On the other hand, oriented or polycrystalline PLZT capacitors exhibited very weak polarization and little dependence of the initial prepolarization state on the oxygen cooling pressure. Consequently, the PLZT capacitors containing polycrystalline nature had a strong resistance to the imprint failure. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.