Optical properties of sol-gel-derived PZT thin films

Abstract

A series of sol-gel derived PT-based films, including PT, PZ, PZT, PLT, PLZ and PLZT, was prepared on platinized Si, fused SiO 2 and Corning 7059 substrates. These films were fired at 400 - 700 C for 30 mins. The phase assembly and development were dependent on the precursor chemistries, processing and choice of substrates. The presence of Zr impacted significantly on the crystallization behavior, PbO loss and cracking behavior of the films. Crystallization was severely retarded, especially in Zr-containing PZT films when deposited on amorphous substrates compared to crystalline Pt substrates. Amorphous and crystalline PZT films can be utilized for passive and active optical applications. Waveguiding was achieved in an amorphous PZT 53/47 and a crystalline PLT 28 films and gave attenuation losses of 1.0 and 1.4 dB/cm respectively which represent the lowest values reported to date. The optical properties of the films were investigated using ellipsometry, UV-VIS transmission spectroscopy and waveguide loss measurements. Depending on composition and processing conditions, PZT films (2500 A thick) with refractive indices of 1.60 to 2.33 and absorption edges of 2900 - 3100 A can be obtained. It was ascertained that the resulting interfacial reaction layers between the films and substrates affected considerably the optical properties of thinner films (< 2000 A).