Structural and electrical properties of BiFeO3 thin films by solution deposition and microwave annealing

Lead-free polycrystalline BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films were developed using a chemical solution deposition method to deposit the films and the multi-mode 2.45 GHz microwave furnace to optimize the annealing condition of the films. Phase-pure BFO films were obtained at 500 °C–600 °C for 1–5 min with a heating rate of 10 °C/min. The film by microwave annealing (MW) at 550 °C for 5 min exhibited a (012)-preferred orientation with a dense morphology of grain size ~ 294 nm. Its dielectric constant of 96.2, low leakage current density of 2.466 × 10− 6 A/cm2, polarization (2Pr) and coercive field (2Ec) of 0.931 μC/cm2 and 57.37 kV/cm, respectively, were improved compared to those by conventional annealing (CA) at the same annealing conditions.