Interfacial Mismatch and Interface Structure of Epitaxial Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (90%)- PbTiO3 (10%) Relaxor Thin Films

Abstract Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN)- and its solid solution with PbTiO3 (PT) is one of the lead-based relaxor ferroelectrics and has been the most widely studied materials because of their high dielectric constants and high electrostrictive coefficients. The potential impact of the thin film ferroelectric relaxors in the integrated actuators and sensing applications has stimulated research on the growth and characterization of thin films. Thin films have been made by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD), sol-gel and metalrganic chemical-vapor deposition. It is known that electrical properties may be strongly influenced by the microstructure of films and the interface structures between different phase in such heterostructure systems. In this paper, we report the investigation of interfacial mismatch and interface structure of epitaxial Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (90%)- PbTiO3 (10%) relaxor thin film by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Thin film capacitors of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (90%) - PbTiO3 (10%) (PMN-PT) were grown by PLD on (100)-oriented LaA1O3 (LAO) substrates. La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (LSCO) layer was deposited as electrode. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy samples were prepared following the traditional procedures including cutting, gluing, polishing and ion milling.