Thermal induced changes of Lead Zirconium Titanate films and their consequences for liquid crystal devices applications

Marco Castriota (1) , Stefano d'Elia (1) , Salvatore Marino (1) , Enzo Cazzanelli (1) , Nicola Scaramuzza (2) , Carlo C. Versace (1) , Roberto Bartolino (1)

1 department of physics
2 CNR-IPCF - Department of Physics

Thin films of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) have been obtained by a modified sol-gel route on float glass and indium tin oxide (ITO) covered float glass substrates. Different thermal treatments have been performed on the deposited films in the range between 100 to 700 °C. Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to investigate the optical properties of the deposited films, and the changing optical absorption spectra have been associated to the growth of two different crystal phases, pyrochlore and ferroelectric perovskite, as a function of annealing temperature. Moreover, a specific resonance at 1.9 nm, was detected when thin PZT films are deposited on ITO substrates and has been attributed to a particular charge distribution at the interface. Finally, the performance in rectifying the electro-optical response of asymmetric nematic liquid crystal cells have been tested for some of the films undergoing different thermal treatments.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Marco Castriota, Stefano d'Elia, Salvatore Marino, Enzo Cazzanelli, Nicola Scaramuzza, et al.. Thermal induced changes of Lead Zirconium Titanate films and their consequences for liquid crystal devices applications. Philosophical Magazine, 2010, 90 (16), pp.2223-2233. ⟨10.1080/14786431003630850⟩. ⟨hal-00592299⟩