Impact of sputtering atmosphere on residual stress in RF magnetron sputtering PZT thin films

In this paper, lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr 0.52 Ti 0.48 )O 3 , PZT) thin films were fabricated on 8-inch multilayer substrates (Buffer/Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si) via RF magnetron sputtering. We investigate the impact of varied Ar/O 2 flow ratios on the residual stress and the surface morphology in PZT thin films. The experimental results show that the average residual stress in PZT thin films first increases and then decreases as the Ar/O 2 flow ratio decreases. Under the sputtering atmosphere with an Ar/O 2 flow ratio of 2.5:0.13, the Ra surface roughness of the PZT thin films reaches the optimum value of 5.55nm. Moreover, the average residual stress and residual stress standard deviation of PZT thin films are 23.39MPa and 0.71MPa, respectively, which indicates that the films have a more uniform residual stress distribution. This is of great reference significance for optimizing the residual stress of PZT thin films and improving the electrical properties of thin films.