Na0.5K0.5NbO3 thin films have been deposited onto textured polycrystalline Pt80Ir20 substrates using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Films were grown in off- and on-axis positions relative to the target at growth temperatures of 500–700 °C and sputtering pressures of 1–7 Pa. The deposited films were found to be textured, displaying a mixture of two orientations (001) and (101). Films grown on-axis showed a prefered (001) orientation, while the off-axis films had a (101) orientation. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the morphology of the films was dependent on the substrate position and sputtering pressure. The low-frequency (10 kHz) dielectric constants of the films were found to be in the range of approximately 490–590. Hydrostatic piezoelectric measurements showed that the films were piezoelectric in the as-deposited form with a constant up to 14.5 pC/N.

Recently we proposed ferroelectric sodium potassium niobate (Na0.5K0.5NbO3, NKN) thin films to be a candidate for applications in nonvolatile memories and electrically tunable devices [1-5]. In this paper we report on processing and characterization of metal-ferroelectric-insulatorsemiconductor (MFIS) diode structures based on RF-magnetron sputtered NKN films. 0.7 μm thick NKN films have been deposited at 650 °C on the thermally grown 47 nm thick SiO2 layer on Si(001) wafers. Stoichiometric Na0.5K0.5NbO3 ceramic target was sputtered in an O2-Ar atmosphere with a total pressure of 5 mTorr. Grown films were analyzed as deposited as well as after an oxygen annealing at 600 °C for 30 minutes. The NKN films exhibit a strong (001) preferential orientation, which was appreciably improved after the oxygen annealing. A leakage current density of 2.3 nA/cm2 at an electric field of 400 kV/cm, and a memory window of 7.2 V was measured for Au/NKN/SiO2(47nm)/Si(001) diode structures at the programmable voltage of 40 V. I-V measurements were performed in the time domain to distinguish between the relaxation of polarization, “true” leakage current, and the degradation of the resistance in ferroelectric NKN film.

We report on comprehensive characterization of piezoelectric shear mode inkjet actuators micromachined into bulk Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) ceramics. The paper starts with an overview of different inkjet technologies such as continuous jet and drop-on-demand systems, whereat main attention is turned on piezoelectric systems particularly Xaar-type shear mode inkjet color printheads. They are an example of complex microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and comprise a ferroelectric array of 128 active ink channels (75νm wide and 360νm deep). Detailed information about manufacturing and principles of operation are given. Several techniques to control manufacturing processes and to characterize properties of the piezoelectric material are described: dielectric spectroscopy to measure dielectric permittivity ε and loss tanσ; ferroelectric hysteresis P-E loop tracing to get remnant polarization Pr and coercive field Ec, and a novel pulsed technique to quantify functional properties of the PZT actuator such as acoustic resonant frequencies and electromechanical coupling factor. Stroboscope technique has been employed to find correlation between the degradation of ink-jet performance and heat/high voltage treatment resulting in ferroelectric fatigue.

Polycrystalline 0.4 μm thick films of Ag(Ta,Nb)O3 (ATN) were grown on sapphire (Al2O3-0112, r-plane) wafers by pulsed laser deposition technique. 2 and 4 μm gap interdigital capacitors were defined by photolithography on the top of Au/Cr/ATN(0.4μm)/Al2O3 film structures. They exhibit high dielectric performance. In the frequency range of 1 kHz to 1 MHz dielectric permittivity shows frequency dispersion as low as 3.5 %, loss tangent ∼ 0.0035 @ 1 MHz, Kfactor = tunability/tan δ is about 20.2 @ 200 kV/cm, and resistivity as high as 1.8 × 1011 ×cm @ 100 kV/cm. C-V and I-V characteristics recorded in time domain revealed slow Curie-von Schweidler-type relaxation of the polarization. Low frequency dispersion and loss, high tunability and low noise in the biased state promise thin ATN film capacitors for microwave applications.

A glassy structure was formed in the Fe40Co40P14B6 alloy by melt-spinning technique. The as-quenched 2-8 mm wide and 15-30 [.proportional]m thick ribbons exhibit good soft magnetic properties: the saturation magnetization of 1.45 T, the coercive force of 4 A/m and maximum differential permeability at 60 Hz of about 90000. The FeCo-based glass crystallizes via eutectic reaction into a mixture of an austenite and a b.c. tetragonal Fe3P-like phase similar to that of the well-known Fe40Ni40P14B6metallic glass, but at temperatures about 60 K higher than the latter. The evaluation of the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of crystallization process brought us to the conclusion that the improved thermal stability of the Fe40Co40P14B6 glass is caused by the enhanced interfacial nucleus-glass energy.

For the first time AgTa0.38Nb0.62O3 (ATN) films have been grown on the La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 (LSCO)/LaAlO3 single crystal as well as onto Pt80Ir20 (PtIr) polycrystalline substrate. Comprehensive X-ray diffraction analyses reveal epitaxial quality of ATN and LSCO films on the LaAlO3(001) substrate, while ATN/PtIr films have been found to be (001) preferentially oriented. Dielectric spectroscopy performed for ATN films and bulk ceramics in a wide temperature range 77 to 420 K shows the structural monoclinic M1-to-monoclinic M2 phase transition occurs in films at the temperature 60 °C lower than in ceramics. The tracing of the ferroelectric hysteresis P-E loops indicates the ferroelectric state in ATN films at temperatures below 125 K and yields remnant polarization of 0.4 μC/cm2 @ 77 K. Weak frequency dispersion, high temperature stability of dielectric properties as well as low processing temperature of 550 °C make ATN films to be attractive for various applications.

We present experimental studies of crystalline, magnetic, and magneto-optic (MO) properties and their correlation with the processing parameters of Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet (CexY3−xFe5O12) thin films grown epitaxially onto single crystal Gd3Ga5O12 (111) substrates by Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposition technique. Rutherford backscattering (RBS) analysis and microprobe energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) prove the background oxygen pressure, used for films growth, control films stoichiometry. Oxygen ambient pressure appears to be an important parameter to grow CexY3−x, Fe5O12 films with good crystallinity, magnetic properties, as well as enhanced MO effect. It is found that the film fabricated at 50 mTorr oxygen pressure exhibits a maximum Faraday rotation (FR) øF = 1.78 deg/νtm at λ = 633 nm, a maximum saturation magnetization 4πMs = 1255 Gauss with a minimum in-plane coercivity Hc = 35 Oe, and the narrowest full width at half maximum FWHM = 0.06° of the (444) Bragg reflection rocking curve. The analog of the Verdet constant V = øF / 4πMs, also found to be dependent on the oxygen ambient pressure, reaches the value as high as 1.4 deg/νm-kG at 633 nm, suggesting that this material is useful for MO applications.

Ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is the main industrial product in piezoelectric ceramic materials used for sensor and actuator applications. High precision in manufacturing of microelectromechanical systems is essential to get demanded performance accuracy. An adequate and preferably non-destructive measurement technique is desired to characterize the materials properties at various stages of device fabrication as well as to find correlation between the processing parameters, microstructure and functional properties. We report on a new pulsed technique, which has been employed to characterize all relevant properties of special machined array of PZT channels quickly, reliably and reproducibly: dielectric constant, loss factor tan σ, electromechanical coupling coefficient, resonance frequency and mechanical quality factor Q as well as temperature dependencies of these parameters.

Single phase Na0.5K0.5NbO3 (NKN) thin films have been pulsed laser deposited on Al2O3(0112), LaAlO3(001), and MgO(001) single crystal substrates as well as on the SiO2/Si(001) wafers to demonstrate films feasibility for voltage tunable microwave device applications. NKN film texture has been found to be quite different on three different single crystals: highly c-axis oriented on Al2O3, “cube-on-cube” epitaxial quality on LaAlO3, bi-axial textures on MgO, while NKN films grown on Si substrate with various thickness of SiO2 buffer layer possess highly c-axis oriented quadrupled structure. NKN film interdigital capacitors fabricated onto single crystal oxide substrates showed tunability of 30-40 % and dissipation factor of 0.01-0.02 at 1 MHz and applied electric field of 100kV/cm. Microwave frequency measurements for NKN/Si varactors yield 13 % tunability and dielectric loss tanδ as low as 0.012 at 40 GHz under 200 kV/cm applied bias.

Na0.5K0.5NbO3 films have been grown onto polycrystalline Pt80Ir20 substrates at two different regimes: high (∼ 400 mTorr) and low (∼ 10 mTorr) oxygen pressure. Films grown at high oxygen pressure have been found to be single phase and highly c-axis oriented. The concept of discriminated thermalization has been developed to explain the dynamics of the laser ablation process and to find reliable pulsed laser deposition (PLD) processing conditions. The phenomenon of self assembling of Na0.5K0.5NbO3 films along [001] direction has been observed. On the other hand, films grown at low oxygen pressure have been found to be mixed phase of ferroelectric Na0.5K0.5 NbO3 and paraelectric potassium niobates. Superparaelectric behavior has been observed in these films: 5% tunability at electric field of 100 kV/cm, losses as low as 0.003 and excellent stability to the temperature and frequency changes.

Epitaxial ferroelectric/colossal magnetoresistive PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3/La0.7(Pb,Sr)0.3MnO3 (PZT/LPSMO) thin film heterostructures have been grown onto SrTiO3 single crystals by KrF pulsed laser deposition technique to fabricate nonvolatile magnetosensitive memory. Colossal magnetoresisitivity (CMR) in LPSMO film has been tailored to room temperature by compositional control to get the maximum temperature coefficient of resistivity of 7.3 %K−1 @ 295 K and maximim magnetoresistivity of 27% @ 7 kOe and 300 K. The main processing parameters have been optimized to preserve CMR performance in LPSMO film after deposition of the top ferroelectric layer. Vertical Au/PZT/LPSMO/STO capacitor cell possesses very high dielectric permittivity about 1500 and rather low loss of 5% at 1 kHz, saturation polarization of 40.4 µC/cm2, remnant polarization of 20.6 µC/cm2, coercive field of 22.8 kV/cm, and no visible fatigue after 1.33.108 reversals. Three top contact metals: Au, Pt, and Ta, deposited at room temperature, have been examined. As compared with Ta, Pt and Au top contacts show superior performance regarding to combined properties: high remnant and saturation polarization, low loss and no fatigue while top Ta contacts have been found to be more efficient to reduce leakage in ferroelectric film.