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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Using first principles calculations, we have investigated the electronic structure of Pb(ZrTiNb)O3 (PZTN), a system with a low leakage current and high reliability in thin films. We proposed that in PZTN, the oxygen vacancy is suppressed due to the addition of a Nb atom at the B site and that this change prevents a bandgap narrowing which would enhance the leakage current. The oxygen vacancy in the perovskite structure reduces the bandgap because it lowers the d orbital energy of the nearest-neighbor transition metal through the Madelung potential; this bandgap narrowing induces the leakage current in conventional Pb(ZrTi)O3 (PZT) systems with the Shottky type Pb-O deficit. In contrast, the PZTN systems, which also have the Pb deficit but lack the oxygen vacancy, can maintain the bandgap, and attain a low leakage current.