Comparative microstructure and electrical property studies of lead scandium tantalate thin films as prepared by LDCVD, sol-gel and sputtering techniques

Lead scandium tantalate (PST) thin films for uncooled infrared (IR) detector applications have been deposited by liquid delivery chemical vapour deposition (LDCVD), sputtering and sol-gel techniques. The sol-gel and sputtered films were deposited at low temperature into a non-ferroelectric phase with the required perovskite structure being formed using a high temperature rapid thermal anneal (RTA). In contrast to this, the LDCVD films were deposited at high temperature directly into the perovskite phase but were found to still require a high temperature RTA step to optimize their merit for IR detection. Detailed structural and electrical characterization of the PST films deposited by these different methods have revealed that there is no simple relationship between microstructure and electrical properties. The sol-gel and LDCVD techniques produce thin films with excellent microstructures, as determined by x-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy, but inferior electrical properties and relatively low merit figures. By contrast, the sputtered and then rapid thermal annealed films have inferior microstructures. characterized by extensive voiding, but excellent electrical properties and high merit figures.