Lead zirconate titanate (PZT), in the form of both bulk and thin films, is used in most piezoelectric applications due to its high piezoelectric response coefficients. Strontium-doped lead zirconate titanate (PSZT) has shown improved piezoelectric response characteristics in bulk form. This work investigates the deposition and characterisation of PSZT in the form of thin films, and reports on results from the estimation of the piezoelectric response of these thin films using two new techniques. The influence of RF magnetron sputter deposition parameters on the composition and orientation of PSZT thin films has been studied. Investigation of the consequence of varying the oxygen partial pressure during deposition on thin film stoichiometry, the influence of the choice of metal-coated silicon substrates on thin film orientation, and the effect of post-deposition cooling rate have been used to identify optimal deposition conditions. The existence of a modified unit cell resulting from these deposition parameters has been verified, and the resulting lattice parameters were estimated. Extensive materials characterisation (using microscopy, diffraction, and spectroscopy) of the PSZT thin films deposited on gold and platinum coated silicon substrates is reported. The limited techniques available for quantitative estimation of d33 for piezoelectric thin films initiated an investigation into alternative possibilities, as a consequence of which two new techniques for piezoelectric coefficient estimation, under the inverse piezoelectric effect, have been developed. One technique capitalises on the measurement accuracy of the nanoindenter in following thin film displacement, while the other uses a standard atomic force microscope in contact imaging mode to estimate d33. The development, scope, and limitations of both techniques are discussed. The techniques developed have been used to estimate the piezoelectric response of PSZT thin films. Depending on the thin film deposition parameters and the analysis frequency, values of piezoelectric response higher than any measured for thin films on silicon have been estimated. PSZT thin films deposited on gold-coated silicon at low deposition temperatures resulted in d33 values up to 892 pm/V. The study of the piezoelectric response in the millihertz frequency regime resulted in colossal values (ranging in tens of thousands of pm/V) for PSZT thin films deposited at high temperatures on platinum-coated silicon. This was hypothesised to be a result of enhanced ferroelastic domain switching. This hypothesis was verified by reducing the clamping on domains by synthesising island-structured PSZT films and obtaining an increased piezoelectric response.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/230162 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Sriram, Sharath, sharath.sriram@gmail.com |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Sharath Sriram |
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