Electronic Conduction Characteristics of Sel-Gel Ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3 Thin-Film Capacitors: Part II

Abstract

We studied the electronic conduction characteristics of sol-gel ferroelectric Pb(Zr_0.4Ti_0.6)O₃ thin-film capacitors by evaluation of time-dependent leakage current ( I-t ) and current-voltage ( I-V ) characteristics along with other dielectric properties. We derived an experimental formula to explain the leakage current at low field as a function of electric field, time and temperature. The ohmic-like current at low field depended on both the amount of excess Pb and thickness, which might be explained by the leakage current being governed by the amount of ionized point defects with an activation energy of about 0.5 eV. The ohmic-like current which was decreased after DC stressing reverted back to its original value during the recovery time at high temperature. The 50% recovery time had an activation energy of 0.53 eV. We proposed a plausible conduction model governed by trapping into ionized point defects.