Engineering Creativity Award: PLZT Thin Film Electro OPtic Materials for Light Modulation

铅，镧，锆酸盐和钛酸盐，在广泛的成分，结合形成一个透明的铁电陶瓷称为PLZT。PLZT材料的光学透明度和电光特性使其可用于各种电子器件，并且在竞争技术中具有优势。由于开关所需的高工作电压，它们尚未大规模用于商业规模。本研究采用的方法是在控制衬底温度、衬底偏置、靶成分和腔室压力等变量的同时，使用PLZT靶将沉积溅射到透明衬底上。通过改变这些因素，最终得到具有一定的本征应力、形貌和晶粒结构的透明铁电陶瓷，最终影响开关电压的阈值。由此产生的PLZT薄膜可用于空间光调制器、图像存储设备、反射显示器、滤波器和线性门阵列等电光器件。

Lead, lanthanum, zirconate, and titanate, in a broad range of compositions, combine to form a transparent ferroelectric ceramic referred to as PLZT. the optical transparency and electrooptic properties of PLZT materials make them useful for a variety of electronic devices and advantageous over competing technologies. They have yet to be used on a large commercial scale due to high operating voltages required for switching. The approach taken in this research is to use a PLZT target to sputter deposit onto a transparent substrate while controlling the variables of substrate temperature, substrate bias, target composition, and chamber pressure. By varying these factors, the end result is a transparent ferroelectric ceramic with certain intrinsic stress, morphology, and grain structure which ultimately affect the threshold of the switching voltage. The PLZT thin films that will result have application in electrooptic devices for spatial light modulators, image storage devices reflective displays, filters, and linear gate arrays.