The conductivity and the drift mobility of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 films deposited on fused silica substrates at 650℃ by pulsed-laser deposition have been measured by using the traveling-wave method. At room temperature, La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 films with semiconductivity have a hole density of 1 31021cm23, and drift mobility of 0.01cm2/V s. The films underwent a paraferromagnetic transition around 240K. The hopping process and tunneling effect of small polarons may be responsible for the conductive behavior above the Curie temperature.

Completely <111>-textured Pb(Ta0.05Zr0.48Ti0.47)O3 (PTZT)films are grown on Pt/TiO2 /SiO2 /Si(001) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition using SrRuO3 as a buffer layer. It is argued that the small lattice-mismatch in (111) plane between Pt and SrRuO3 and the compatible perovskite structures for SrRuO3 and PTZT are responsible for the complete (111) orientation of PTZT films. The as-fabricated PTZT ferroelectric capacitor exhibits large remnant polarizations 1Pr518.4mC/cm2, and 2Pr5216.0mC/cm2, and very low leakage current as well. The excellent fatigue-resisting property of PTZT films in terms of the polarization degradation is demonstrated.

Ferroelectric perovskite Pb(Ta0.05Zr0.48Ti0.47)O3 thin-film capacitors having LaxSr12xCoO3 bottom and top electrodes have been prepared on Pt/TiO2 /SiO2 /Si(001) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. It is found that La0.25Sr0.75CoO3 bottom electrodes with cubic structure strongly promote the formation of (001) texture of PTZT films and improve the fatigue and retention properties of the capacitors. The polarization of the La0.25Sr0.75CoO3 /Pb(Ta0.05Zr0.48Ti0.47)O3 /La0.25Sr0.75CoO3 capacitors with a Pb(Ta0.05Zr0.48Ti0.47)O3 thickness of 400nm were subjected to no degradation after 131010 switching cycles at an applied voltage 5 V with a frequency of 1MHz. The capacitor retains more than 92.6% of its polarization after a retention time up to 105s. The possible microstructural background responsible for the excellent fatigue and retention properties was discussed.

Multilayer films composed of piezoelectrically active ZnO and inactive Al2O3 layers were prepared on silicon by a pulsed laser deposition technique. The ZnO layers were completely (001) Textured to generate a single piezoelectric coefficient d33 perpendicular to the substrate surface and the Al2O3 layers were amorphous at 375℃. The interfacial sharpness and the film orientation were analyzed by low and high angle x-ray diffraction u-2u scanning. High frequency resonance of 10.6GHz was measured and higher values up to 100 GHz are expected in the multilayer films with periods 320nm or smaller.

A low electric field applied during film deposition has a significant influence on the orientation of ferroelectric thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. C-axis oriented growth of LiNbO3 films was demonstrated on fused silica with the aid of a low bias voltage Vb50-120 V, and complete c-axis orientation was achieved at Vb5110 V. In contrast, the electric field cannot induce c-axis orientation of LiTaO3 films. Theoretical analysis suggests that the electrostatic energy provides an extra driving force for the c-axis oriented growth of the ferroelectric films if the permittivity components satisfy e33/e11<2, as in LiNbO3 film, but not if e33/e11.2 at the deposition temperature, as in LiTaO3 film.