Effect of heating rate on the crystallization behavior of amorphous PZT thin films

Abstract

The crystallization behavior of amorphous PZT thin films during either conventional furnace annealing (CFA) or rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was studied by both dynamic and static methods. Favorable crystallization behavior was found in the RTA process owing to its very fast heating rates (on the order of 100° C s^-1). During RTA, the formation of the metastable phase (pyrochlore) is avoided, and the excess free energy of the amorphous state relative to the stable crystalline phase (perovskite) is instantaneously released to facilitate the perovskite phase formation. While perovskite phase formation during CFA is a slow and sluggish process with a two-stage transition (amorphous phase to pyrochlore phase then to perovskite phase), an easier and faster single-stage transition (amorphous phase directly to perovskite phase) is realized by RTA.