Investigation of the (micro)structural characteristics in PbTiO3 ferroelectric thin films

Ferroelectric materials have been studied over the last three decades due to their exceptional physical properties, which make them promissory for several applications, such as pyroelectric sensors, nonvolatile memories, electro-optical devices, capacitors, etc. Among them, lead titanate (PbTiO3, PT), which has a tetragonal (P4mm) perovskite structure, has been considered a promising material for infrared detector applications (in both thin films and ceramic forms) and, therefore, it has been up today under the interest of many researches from the scientific community. In fact, recent advances in the synthesis methods for obtaining PT-based materials have promoted very interesting and intriguing phenomena in their micro(structural) properties, which still remains not fully understood. In this context, this work aims the investigation of the structural properties of PbTiO3 thin films, studied through X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy techniques. In particular, the influence of the synthesis parameters, such as pyrolysis temperature, has been considered.