Oriented lead titanate film growth at lower temperatures by the sol-gel method on particle-seeded substrates

An approach to fabricate lead titanate (PbTiO₃) films with preferred orientation on arbitrary substrates by a sol-gel method was developed. To ensure a preferred crystallographic orientation on the substrates with different cyrstal structure, well-defined platelet PbTiO₃ particles were used as seeds. Because the basal plane of the platelet-shaped particles was the (001) plane, the particles aligned with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates. During crystallization of the sol-gel PbTiO₃ films on the particle-seeded substrate, preferential nucleation occurred on seeded particles with the same crystallographic orientation as the particles at a much lower temperature. In the current study, (100) and (001) lectured PbTiO₃ films have been produced on various substrate materials such as silicon, silicate glass, indium tin oxide (ITO) glass, and titanium metal at temperatures as low as 275°C. The microstructure of the films was examined by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Limited ferroelectric properties also were determined, to underscore the preferred orientation that was produced in these materials.