Ferroelectric properties of epitaxial Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 films on SiO2/Si using biaxially oriented MgO as templates

High quality epitaxial Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 (BNT) thin films with thicknesses from 30 to 80 nm have been integrated on SiO2/Si substrates. MgO templates deposited by ion-beam-assisted deposition and SrRuO3 (SRO) buffer layers processed by pulsed laser deposition have been used to initiate the epitaxial growth of BNT films on the amorphous SiO2/Si substrates. The structural and ferroelectric properties were investigated. Microstructural studies by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy revealed high quality crystalline with an epitaxial relationship of (001)BNT||(001)SRO||(001)MgO and [100]BNT||[110]SRO||[110]MgO. A ferroelectric hysteresis loop with a remanent polarization of 3.1 μC/cm2 has been observed for a 30 nm thick film. The polarization exhibits a fatigue-free characteristic up to 1.44 × 1010 switching cycles.