Effect of capacitor configuration on oxygen-dependent electrical properties of ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films

Polarization versus applied field (P-E) hysteresis loop measurements on Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) thin films were performed using a controlled-atmosphere probe station. Measurements were made using two different capacitor configurations, each producing differing results. The capacitor configurations included using either the typical arrangement of two top electrodes (planar) or an arrangement using contacts to the top and the bottom electrodes (sandwich). The films included PZT films deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and commercially-available rf-sputtered PZT thin films. Qualitatively similar results were obtained for both types of films. For both PLD and Ramtron PZT films, translation of ferroelectric hysteresis loops along the polarization axis was observed for sandwich capacitors. The magnitude of this voltage was strongly dependent on the partial pressure of oxygen at room temperature. Translations were not observed for the same films using the planar capacitor configuration. However, for both sandwich and planar configurations, the thin film capacitance was sensitive to changes in pO(2).