Effect of Nb doping on pyroelectric property of lead zirconate titanate films prepared by chemical solution deposition

Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)1−xNbxO3 (PNZT) (x = 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%) films with 1 μm thickness were deposited on a platinized silicon using the chemical solution deposition (CSD) method followed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). X-ray patterns indicate that introduction of the first seeding layer significantly enhance the crystallization of films after RTA processing. Electrical characterization was performed on Pt/PNZT/Pt capacitors. In order to precisely determine the pyroelectric coefficients of the PNZT films, trapezium and sinusoidal temperature modulations were applied to Pt/PNZT/Pt capacitors while measuring the pyroelectric current signal. Pyroelectric voltage response of these films was measured with chopped IR radiation from a blackbody source tuned to equivalent of 400 °C. Results show that doping PZT with Nb significantly improves the ferroelectric and pyroelectric properties of these films. Films with doping level of 1 mol% of Nb exhibit the highest values of remnant polarization (49.33 μC/cm2) and pyroelectric coefficient (4.6 × 10−4 C/K m2).