Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric materials with perovskite
structure has been widely used for various applications such as
sensors, filters, oscillators, actuators and nonvolatile ferroelectric
random access memories (NvFRAM) because of their excellent
ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties [1,2]. PZT is a solid solution
of ferroelectric PbTiO3 (Tc ¼ 490 C) and antiferroelectric PbZrO3
(Tc ¼ 230 C) in different Zr/Ti ratios [3e5]. It has good piezoelectric
properties, particularly at composition where Zr:Tiw52:48 close to
a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between tetragonal and
rhombohedral phases [6]. This compound also possesses high
spontaneous polarization, good thermal stability during operation,
high electromechanical coupling coefficient and ease of poling [7].
Therefore, PZT is the most popular ferroelectric material used in
electronic devices and transducer applications [6e8]. Furthermore,
it has a high Curie temperature (Tc) of about 390 C which allows
devices to be operated at relatively high temperature [9,10].