Synthesis and electrical properties of Pb(Zr_0.52Ti _0.48)O₃ thick films embedded with ZnO nanoneedles prepared by the hybrid sol-gel method

Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ thick films embedded with ZnO nanoneedles (PZT-ZnO_n) were successfully prepared on Pt/Cr/SiO₂/Si substrates by the hybrid sol-gel method via spin-coating ZnO_n suspension and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) sol. To control the orientation of the films, a PbTiO₃ (PT) layer was first deposited as a seed layer. Effects of annealing method and ZnO_n contents on the corresponding orientation and crystallization of PZT-ZnO _n films were investigated by XRD and SEM. The results show that all the PZT-ZnO_n composite thick films have pure perovskite structure and high-quality film surface. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of the PZT-ZnO_n films are close to the PZT films, and have a little decrease with the increasing of the ZnO_n contents.