Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Crystallinity, Morphology and Ferroelectric of Polyvinylidenefluoride-Trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) Thin Film

The annealing temperature for 250 nm PVDF-TrFE (70:30 mol %) spin coated thin films were varied at solvent evaporation (Ts = 79 °C), Curies transition (Tc= 113 °C), till melting temperature (Tm = 154 °C). XRD measurement showed that, there was an improvement in the crystallinity of the annealed films, consistent with the increased in the annealing temperatures. Morphological studies of the annealed PVDF-TrFE thin films as observed with Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) (100k magnification), showed enhanced development of elongated crystallite structures known as ferroelectric crystal. However, thin film annealed at 160 °C (AN160) showed fibrous-like structure with appearance of nanoscale separations, which suggested high possibility of defects. Ferroelectric characterization indicated an improvement in the remnant polarization of annealed PVDF-TrFE thin films with the exception to AN160 in which leakage of current was inevitable due to the presence of cracks on the film surface.