Effect of annealing on orientation of Bi 3.2 Sm 0.8 Ti 3 O 12 ferroelectric film prepared by sol-gel process.

Fatigue-free Bi(3.2)Sm(0.8)Ti(3)O(12) ferroelectric thin films were prepared on p-Si(100) substrate using a sol-gel deposition process. The formation and orientation of thin films were studied upon annealing conditions with XRD and SEM. Experiment results indicate that after preannealing at 400 degrees C for 10 min, annealing at 700 degrees C resulted in formation of strong a-axis oriented films. The orientation degree, I(200)/I(117), remarkably increases from 1.033 to 1.76 and 6.49 with increasing annealing time from 3 to 10 and 15 min respectively. However, only (117)-oriented films were produced by annealing films at 900 degrees C for 3 min without the preannealing.