Ferroelectric characteristics of SrBi4Ti4O15 thin films grown on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by the soft chemical method

Ferroelectric SrBi4Ti4O15 thin films were successfully prepared on a Pt (111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrate for the first time by spin coating, using the polymeric precursor method. X-ray diffraction patterns of the films indicate that they are polycrystalline in nature. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses showed that the surface of these films is smooth, dense and crack-free with low surface roughness (6.4 nm). At room temperature and at a frequency of 1 MHz, the dielectric constant and the dissipation factor were, respectively, 150 and 0.022. The C–V characteristics of perovskite thin film prepared at low temperature show normal ferrolectric behaviour. The remanent polarization and coercive field for the films deposited were 5.4 μC/cm2 and 85 kV/cm, respectively. All the capacitors showed good polarization fatigue characteristics at least up to 1 × 1010 bipolar pulse cycles indicating that SrBi4Ti4O15 thin films can be a promising material for use in nonvolatile memories.