Diagnostics of the Elemental Composition of PZT Films on Platinum by X-Ray Microprobe Analysis

Abstract

The problem of diagnosing the elemental composition of PZT (lead zirconate titanate) films on platinum is solved by X-ray microprobe analysis. The resulting compositions differ markedly for thin (thickness of 300 nm, conventional for microelectronic applications) and thick films (3 µm to avoid the effect of the substrate on the results of analysis of the film composition) deposited by magnetron sputtering under identical conditions. The matrix corrections for the backscattering of electrons and fluorescence excitation are calculated for two groups of samples. It is shown that these corrections, taken for the concentrations of Ti/Zr and Pb/(Ti + Zr), are not significant and cannot explain the observed difference in the compositions. The mechanism of formation of the composition of thin PZT films at different stages of deposition is considered.