Influence of PVAc on the microstructure and property of PbTiO₃ films in different thermal annealing methods

It has been reported previously that polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) additive can increase obviously single layer thickness of PbTiO₃ (PT) thin films, and in turn result in less repeated coating cycles. In this paper, the influence of PVAc on the morphology and property of the PT thin films in different thermal treatment process, the conventional furnace annealing (CFA) process and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process, are investigated. The distinct morphologies of PT thin films without PVAc and with PVAc-assisted suggest different reaction mechanisms. The RTA PVAc-assisted PT thin films can reach to a good property at optimal thermal treatment temperature. The results prove that PVAc can promote the densification and grain growth of PT thin films in RTA process.