Antiferroelectric PbZrO3 thin films for energy storage and actuation applications

PbZrO3 (PZO) thin films are typical anti-ferroelectric thin films with anti-ferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transition. Ultra-high strain (up to 1%) is also found during antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transition due to lattice structure change. This high strain during fast phase transition can be applied in actuator applications. My research involves fabricating highly-oriented PZO thin films and studying their orientation-dependent functional properties. I use chemical solution deposition to fabricate these films and control their orientation by tuning the amount of excess Pb in the precursor solution, LNO buffer layer, PbO buffer layer, etc. As-prepared films have Lotgering Factor higher than 95% (high-oriented) and show superior electromechanical response and dielectric tenability.

Pulsed Thermal Processing of PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 thin films on glass or Kapton substrates

PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 (PZT) thin films on glass or Kapton substrates are crystalized with new processing technique— pulsed thermal processing (PTP). PTP, which anneals thin film materials with pulsed waveform, enables the direct processing of materials requiring high crystallization temperature on various substrates with poor high- temperature tolerance. This technology enables the processing of PZT thin films complete compatible with CMOS processing for full integration and final miniaturization.

PZT thick films on stainless steel for MEMS applications

PZT thick films (up to 5 um) on LNO coated stainless steel substrates are crystallized. Processing conditions including heating profile, spin coating conditions, and solution wettability are studies to optimize the crystallization of PZT thick films to reduce the amount of porosity, cracking, and secondary phase(s).