Effect of heating rate on microstructure and electrical properties of sol–gel derived lead zirconate titanate films crystallized by rapid thermal annealing

• Heating rate influences the grain size of Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PZT) films.
• Different orientation can be obtained in PZT films by adjusting heating rate.
• Orientation has a profound influence on the ferroelectric properties of PZT films.

In the present work, Ferroelectric Lead zirconate titanate [Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3: PZT] films with a nominal formula Pb1.1(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 were prepared with the sol–gel method and post-annealed by rapid thermal annealing. Different heating rates were adopted to explore their effect on microstructure and electrical properties of PZT films. The results show that heating rate has a significant effect on the orientation and grain size distribution of PZT films under the same annealing temperature, which further results in different dielectric and ferroelectric properties. It is found that the faster heating rate is not favorable for enhancing the ferroelectricity of PZT films although it promotes the phase transition process. The relationship between heating rate and microstructure of PZT films is discussed based on its effect on the nucleation and growth process of PZT perovskite phase. It is proposed that the nucleation and growth process of perovskite phase occurs under different stress states at different heating rates, which leads to the varying orientations of films.