Laser transfer processing of thick film lead zirconate titanate and removal of damage layer

A mechanical polishing technique is demonstrated for the effective removal of the interfacial region of a lead zirconate titanate thick film after laser transfer from a sapphire fabrication substrate. The laser-exposed interface originally in contact with sapphire, sintered at 1150 °C, was glass-like in appearance, consistent with melting being the principal de-lamination mechanism during a 15-ns single pulse of KrF laser radiation. The mechanical removal of the laser-generated, amorphous low-permittivity layer resulted in a decrease of the coercive field, from ~45 to ~30 kV/cm, with an increase in relative permittivity (100 Hz) from 350 to 780. Remnant polarisation was ~20 μC/cm² in both sample types. The contribution of the laser-generated damage layer is modelled using a series two-capacitor circuit.