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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.