Mechanism of low temperature hydrogen-annealing-induced degradation in Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3 capacitors

Abstract

Changes in the polarization-field hysteresis loop were systematically investigated for Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O-3 capacitors after forming gas annealing at 200 degreesC. Voltage shift in hysteresis was strongly dependent on the polarization states and ascribed to an asymmetric distribution of defect charges and pinned defect dipoles. Field recovery of the imprinted capacitors and increase in coercive field after the recovery were discussed in conjunction with reversible defect dipoles. From the relaxation of the voltage shift with an activation energy of 0.21 eV, it is inferred that charge trapping may be the main cause of the voltage shift and the subsequent degradation of the capacitors by pinning the polarization and defect dipoles. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.