Phase transition current of antiferroelectric (Pb0.97La0.02)(Zr0.95Ti0.05)O3 thick films under thermo-electric coupled field

• Phase transition current density of the antiferroelectric films was 1.25×10−6 A/cm2 under thermo-electric field.
• Pyroelectric current of the films were separated from the total phase transition current by calculation.
• Transient phase transition current density induced by pulse voltage was 2.48×10−5 A/cm2.

Antiferroelectric (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti)O3 multilayer thick films with thickness of 3817 nm were fabricated by sol–gel processing on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates. The characteristics of the phase transition current induced by temperature and transient pulse electric field were further investigated in detail. It showed that the phase transition current density was about 1.25×10−6 A/cm2 in the thermo-electric coupled field, which was 10 times smaller than that in a single temperature or electric field. In addition, the transient phase transition current density induced by pulse-voltage was up to 2.48×10−5 A/cm2, which could be used as the trigger signals in sensor and micro-switch in the complicated circumstance. At the same time, the results showed that the films had good reproducibility and stability by many repeated experiments. These results were very important for the antiferroelectric materials applied on micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.