Switching characteristics of multi-ion-beam reactive sputter deposited Pb(Zr,Ti)O<SUB>3</SUB> thin films

The switching of the multi-ion-beam reactive sputter deposited Pb(Zr0.5,Ti0.5)O3 thin films has been characterized by using several parameters such as switching time (ts), switched charge density (Qs), nonswitched charge density (Qns), and activation field (&#945;). Comparison was made between films grown with and without low-energy oxygen ion bombardment. It was found that while there is not much difference in ts between the two kinds of films, the bombarded films show higher Qs/Qns, lower ts/Qs, and lower &#945;. These results are consistent with previous results on the remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec) and indicate that the bombardment has induced changes towards facilitating the domain reversal in the films