Effect of IrO₂/Pt, IrO₂, and Pt bottom electrodes on the structure and electrical properties of PZT based piezoelectric microelectromechanical system devices.

Potrepka, D. M.; Rivas, M.; Yu, H.; Aindow, M.; Fox, G. R.; Polcawich, R. G.

In piezoelectric microelectromechanical system devices with PbZrxTi1−xO3 as the ferroelectric, the bottom electrode can provide a template for oriented PbZrxTi1−xO3 growth. IrO2/Pt, IrO2, and Pt bottom electrode layers were sputter deposited onto TiO2 and were used as growth templates for oriented PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 growth. The IrO2 and Pt were found to be {100}- and {111}-oriented, respectively, by X-ray diffraction. Scanning/transmission electron microscopy results indicate that the bottom electrodes are textured; however, the PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 layer is partially textured. The impact of the bottom electrode type on the electrical properties is investigated by dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric measurements on circular capacitors formed on blanket PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 films and unimorph cantilevers. For devices with PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 on IrO2/Pt bottom electrodes, values for the dielectric constant of 1103 ± 28, loss tangent of 0.070 ± 0.004, maximum polarization of 0.399 ± 0.003 C/m2 at 38 MV/m, and leakage current of 5.4 ± 5.8 nA at 20 MV/m were obtained. Values of normalized strain of 0.0030 ± 0.0001 at 20 MV/m, and effective piezoelectric coefficient, d31,f, of 100 ± 25 pm/V at 15 MV/m were obtained on cantilever unimorphs with electrode area 16 µm × 123 µm and PZT area 16 µm × 125 µm. These values are comparable to results obtained for PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 on 100 nm thick Pt-only bottom electrodes.

PLATINUM; ELECTRODES; MICROELECTROMECHANICAL systems; PIEZOELECTRICITY; TITANIUM dioxide

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 2018, Vol 29, Issue 13, p11367

0957-4522

Academic Journal

10.1007/s10854-018-9224-8