Synthesis and Characterization of Erbium Doped Lead Zirconate Titante Thin Films

The present work includes preparation and characterization of polycrystalline complex compounds thin films of (Pb1-zErz)(Zr0.52Ti0.48)1-(z/4)O3with different erbium concentration (z = 0.05, 0.07, 0.09).Thin films were deposited on nickel /cupper foil substrate by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique.Due to the high melting point of ceramic materials, radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique that is employed in the current investigation considers the optimum method compared to other evaporation methods.In order to allow the crystallization into the perovskite phase, the deposited thin films were annealed at 600 ᵒ C using the vacuumed furnace.X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to characterize the prepared thin films at room temperature.LCR meter was used to determine the dielectric properties at different temperatures and frequencies.The dielectric constant of prepared thin films was at the range of (372-116), while that of loss tangent was about (0.057-0.011).The results show that the values of dielectric constant increase with increasing the temperature and then suddenly decreased as a result of face transformation in Curie temperature, while the values of loss tangent decreased with an increase in frequency.Moreover, the results showed that the dielectric constant, loss tangent and Curie temperature values were decreased with increasing of the erbium content.