Lead zirconium titanate films (Pb (Zr,Ti) O3 or PZT) are being considered for potential application as dielectric films in memory technology due to their high dielectric constants. PZT is a ferroelectric material which shows spontaneous polarizability, reversible under applied electric fields. We report herein some results of TEM studies on thin film capacitor structures containing PZT films with platinum-titanium electrodes.The wafers had a stacked structure consisting of PZT/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate as shown in Figure 1. Platinum acts as electrode material and titanium is used to overcome the problem of platinum adhesion to the oxide layer. The PZT (0/20/80) films were deposited using a sol-gel method and the structure was annealed at 650°C and 800°C for 30 min in an oxygen ambient. XTEM imaging was done at 200KV with the electron beam parallel to <110> zone axis of silicon.Figure 2 shows the PZT and Pt layers only, since the structure had a tendency to peel off at the Ti-Pt interface during TEM sample preparation.
