Conductive AFM study of the local current in thin ferroelectric sol-gel PZT films

Abstract

The local current distribution across the grains and their boundaries in ferroelectric PZT films are studied using conductive AFM. The films were formed with various grain structures and different lead excess content by chemical solution deposition. C-AFM measurements have shown the influence of the lead excess and seed sublayer crystallization conditions on the grain-boundary conductivity. PZT films with fixed 0-15 wt% Pb excess demonstrate non-conductive grain boundaries, whereas in films with fixed 30 wt% Pb excess the grain-boundary conductivity is found to be much higher than that of the grains themselves. Conductive grain-boundaries was also found in PZT films without lead excess in crystallized sublayer. A study of the transient current at varied preliminary polarization revealed the current peaks in the current-voltage curves. The appearance conditions and magnitude of these peaks depend on the grain-boundary conductivity. The correlation between the grain-boundary conduction and the current polarization dependences is confirmed.