Morphology and ferroelectric properties of Ce-substituted Bi4 Ti3 O12 thin films prepared by sol-gel method

Abstract

The Ce-substituted bismuth titanate (Bi4 Ti3 O12) ferroelectric thin films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by sol-gel method and annealed at 700°C. The Bi-layered perovskite (with Ce substitution for Bi) single phase films were obtained and the thickness was 500 nm. At 12 V amplitude and 1000 Hz frequency, ferroelectric tests results showed a hysteresis loop with remnant polarization (2Pr) and coercive field values (2Ec) of 9.86 μC/cm2 and 208 kV/cm, respectively. The structure and lattice parameters were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that by increasing Ce substitution the ratio of a/c, the ferroelectric properties, increased when the Ce-substitution of 0.6, a and c values were 5.40734 Å and 5.3559 Å, respectively. The a-axis highly oriented structure may have influenced the remnant polarization and coercive field values of the films obtained.