Epitaxial growth of Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O-3 films on Pt coated magnetostrictive amorphous metallic substrates toward next generation multiferroic heterostructures

Piezoelectric films of Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O-3 (PZT) were deposited by pulsed laser deposition onto metallic magnetostrictive substrates. In order to optimize the growth of PZT films, a buffer layer of Pt was employed, as well as variation of deposition temperature, pressure, and laser energy. Room temperature 0-20 x-ray diffraction measurements indicate all diffraction features correspond to reflections indexed to a single PZT phase of space group P4mm. Scanning electron microscopy images reveal pinhole-free dense films of pyramidal shaped crystal arrangements whose orientation and size were controlled by variation of oxygen pressures during deposition. The resulting PZT films had a value of d(33) similar to 46 pm/V representing a 53% increase over previous efforts to realize a piezoelectric/Metglas (TM) film heterostructure. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3697605]