Ruud Steenwelle

Ph.D. thesis

Thesis title:

Strain and composition effects in epitaxial PZT thin films


[thesis in pdf format]

Year:

2012

Promotor:

Prof. dr. ing. A.J.H.M. Rijnders

Promotor:

Prof. dr. ing. D.H.A. Blank

Date defense:

11-05-2012



Summary


The deposition of perovskite oxide thin films on silicon wafers is attracting great interest, since it promises the possibility of mass-production of thin film devices with functional mechanisms such as piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity, superconductivity, magnetism, and dielectricity. Piezoelectric Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (PiezoMEMS) using Pb(Zrx,Ti1-x)O3 (PZT) films on silicon are often viewed as forerunner in this trend, with promising applications such as inkjet printheads, piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers and energy harvesters. The recently achieved high-quality epitaxial PZT films on silicon substrates by pulsed laser deposition offer the opportunity to study the fundamental relation between ferroelectric and crystallographic properties.