Printing Formation of Flexible (001)-Oriented PZT Films on Plastic Substrates

• Published in: Materials 2023-03, Vol.16 (5), p.2116
• Main Authors: Nakajima, Tomohiko, Kitanaka, Yuuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barium titanates; Crystal growth; Crystallization; Deposition; Glass substrates; Heat conductivity; Interlayers; Irradiation; Krypton fluoride lasers; Lasers; Lead zirconate titanates; Microcracks; Nanoparticles; Perovskites; Precursors; Sol-gel processes; Stress relaxation; Substrates; Thin films; Wearable computers
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma16052116

High-quality, uniaxially oriented, and flexible PbZr Ti O (PZT) films were fabricated on flexible RbLaNb O /BaTiO (RLNO/BTO)-coated polyimide (PI) substrates. All layers were fabricated by a photo-assisted chemical solution deposition (PCSD) process using KrF laser irradiation for photocrystallization of the printed precursors. The Dion-Jacobson perovskite RLNO thin films on flexible PI sheets were employed as seed layers for the uniaxially oriented growth of PZT films. To obtain the uniaxially oriented RLNO seed layer, a BTO nanoparticle-dispersion interlayer was fabricated to avoid PI substrate surface damage under excess photothermal heating, and the RLNO has been orientedly grown only at around 40 mJ·cm at 300 °C. The prepared RLNO seed layer on the BTO/PI substrate showed very high (010)-oriented growth with a very high Lotgering factor ( (010) = 1.0). By using the flexible (010)-oriented RLNO film on BTO/PI, PZT film crystal growth was possible via KrF laser irradiation of a sol-gel-derived precursor film at 50 mJ·cm at 300 °C. The obtained PZT film showed highly (001)-oriented growth on the flexible plastic substrates with (001) = 0.92 without any micro-cracks. The RLNO was only uniaxial-oriented grown at the top part of the RLNO amorphous precursor layer. The oriented grown and amorphous phases of RLNO would have two important roles for this multilayered film formation: (1) triggering orientation growth of the PZT film at the top and (2) the stress relaxation of the underneath BTO layer to suppress the micro-crack formation. This is the first time that PZT films have been crystallized directly on flexible substrates. The combined processes of photocrystallization and chemical solution deposition are a cost-effective and highly on-demand process for the fabrication of flexible devices.