Microstructures and Electrical Properties of Random-Oriented (Bi,La)4Ti3O12 Thin Film Deposited by Pulsed-DC Sputtering Method

Ferroelectric properties of Lead-free (Bi,La)4Ti3O12 (BLT) films were evaluated on the newly developed MTP (Merged Top-electrode and Plate-line) cell structure. The BLT film was deposited by pulsed-DC sputtering method on a buried Pt/IrOx/Ir bottom electrode stack with W-plug. The BLT composition in the sintered sputtering target was Bi4.8La1.0Ti3.0O12. However, the deposited film composition was about Bi4.0La1.0Ti3.0O12 after the heat treatment of crystallization at 700°C/O2/30sec. And grains of the BLT film were randomly oriented and uniformly small ellipsoidal shape (long direction: ~100nm, short direction: ~20 nm). The remnant polarization (2Pr) and the leakage current density measured in the 100nm-thick BLT film were about 21 C/cm2 and 3 ×10-5 A/cm2 at 3 V, respectively. The fatigue loss was about 10% of the initial polarization value after 1×1011 fatigue cycles.