UC Berkeley

We report pyroelectric current measurements on 150 nm thick PbZr 0.2Ti0.8O3 (PZT) epitaxial films using frequency-domain thermal measurements over the range 0.02 Hz-1.3 MHz. The measured pyroelectric currents are proportional to the rate of temperature change, from ∼10-5 A/m2 to ∼103 A/m2 over the range 10-2 to 106 K/s. The film temperature oscillation is controlled using either a hotplate, microfabricated heater, or modulated laser, and the pyroelectric current is measured from a microelectrode fabricated onto the film. The measured pyroelectric coefficient of the PZT films is nearly constant across the entire frequency range at ≈-200 μC/m2K. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.