Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of ferroelectric SrBi2Ta2O9 thin films

Ferroelectric layered-oxides SrBi2Ta2O9 thin films were prepared on Pt coated Si wafers and single-crystal sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The films were specular and crack-free and showed complete crystallization at temperatures between 650 and 700 degrees C. Good ferroelectric properties were obtained for a 200 nm thick film with Pt electrodes: 2P(r) and E(c) were about 8.3 mu C/cm(2) and 60 kV/cm, respectively. The leakage currents were as low as 8 X 10(-9) A/cm(2) at 150 kV/cm. The films also showed fatigue-free characteristics: no fatigue was observed up to 1.4 X 10(10) switching cycles. These high quality MOCVD films make high-intensity (>1 Mbit) nonvolatile memory devices possible. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.