UV Radiation Effects on the Sol-Gel Processing of Ferroelectric PZT Thin Films

Sol gel solutions have been modified with hydrogen peroxide to improve the durability of photo-irradiated films to water and acidic solvents for photo-patterning. The solutions used for film fabricati.on are aqueous based and contain acetylacetonate (acac). UV-Vis absorption studies indicate that peroxide modifies the acetylacetonate ligand (in this case the zirconium precursor) creating a new absorbing species at longer wavelength which also affects the response of the acac ligand to UV radiation. Precursor modification and UV treatments have also been shown to impact the texture and improve the microstructure of resulting films. Depth profiling by radio-frequency glow discharge atomic emission spectroscopy indicates reduction in the carbon to hydrogen ratios of films crystallized after exposure to UV radiation.