Effect of vanadium doping on ferroelectric and electrical properties of Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 thin film

Bi_3.25La_0.75Ti₃O₁₂ (BLT) and V-doped BLT (BLTV) thin films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by a pulsed laser deposition method. The effects of V doping on ferroelectric and electrical properties were investigated by polarization-electric field hysteresis loops and leakage current-voltage measurements. BLTV single phases were confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Remnant polarization was increased and the leakage current density was decreased by V doping. The leakage current density of BLT thin films suddenly increased at 100 kV/cm while that of BLTV thin films increased at the higher electric field of 160 kV/cm. The power law relationship J α Eⁿ of current density vs. applied electric field is estimated to be J αE^2.0 for BLT and J αE^1.0 for BLTV thin films. The leakage current of the BLT/Pt junction can be explained by space-charge-limited current. However, that of the BLTV/Pt junction was characterized by the Schottky emission behavior.     

Effect of Buffer Layer on the Properties of Laser Ablated PZT Thin Films

Lead zirconate titanate (PbZr _x Ti_1?x O₃) or PZT ceramics are a class of piezoelectric materials that are currently experiencing widespread use in industry as electromechanical devices. PtSi/ZnO/PZT thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition at relatively low substrate temperature. The PZT thin films on PtSi substrates and on ZnO buffer layer were deposited at substrate temperature 300°C. The composition analysis shows that the film deposited at low temperature is stoichiometric. The films exhibit ferroelectric nature with coercive field of 19.6 kV/cm for 800 nm thick film. The leakage current density of the films shows a good insulating behavior.     

Electrical and optical properties of microwave dielectric thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Bi₂(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)₂O₇, BiZN, materials possess high dielectric constant and low loss factor in microwave frequency region. They have good potential for device application, especially in the form of thin films. However, the microwave dielectric properties of a thin film are very difficult to be accurately measured. Evaluation on the dielectric behavior of the films through the performance of the microstrip line devices made of these films involves metallic conduction and stray field losses. A novel measuring technique, which can directly evaluate the microwave dielectric properties of a thin film is thus urgently needed.

In this paper, BiZN thin films were grown on [100] MgO single crystal substrates using pulsed laser deposition process. The high-frequency dielectric properties of thus obtained thin films were determined using optical transmission spectroscopy (OTS). The [100] preferentially oriented films with pyrochlore structure can be obtained for the thin films deposited at 400–600°C substrate temperature under 0.1 mbar oxygen pressure. OTS measurements reveal that the index of refraction (n=1.95–2.35) and absorption coefficient (k=0.28x10^?4-2.25 × 10^?4 nm^?1) of the films vary insignificantly with the crystallinity of the BiZN films.     

Pulsed Laser Deposition of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 Thin Films and Their Optical Properties

ABSTRACT

Barium strontium titanate [Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ or BST (60/40)] thin films were deposited on MgO (100) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements revealed that the BST thin films had epitaxially grown on the MgO (100) substrates. The surface morphology of the thin films was observed using an atomic force microscope and the grain size was found to be about 100–150 nm. The surface roughness was around 4.9 nm for a 250 nm thick film. The optical transmittance of the BST thin film was measured using a transmission mode ellipsometer. The BST/MgO configuration was highly transparent in the visible region. The optical band gap energy of the BST film, calculated by applying the Tauc relation, was 3.56 eV. Optical waveguide characteristics of the BST (60/40) thin film were determined using a prism coupler. The electro-optic (E-O) properties were measured at 632.8 nm wavelength using a phase modulation detection method. The BST film exhibited a predominately quadratic E-O behavior and the quadratic E-O coefficient was found to be 0.58 × 10^{? 17} m²/V².     

Deposition of LiNbO3 thin films for selective etching

Ferroelectric lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) thin films were epitaxially fabricated on sapphire (0001) and polycrystalline diamond substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Various deposition conditions are investigated to realize deposition of c-axis oriented LiNbO₃ thin film. The LiNbO₃ thin films were chemically etched after electric poling, being investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM).     

Electronic Conductivity and Dielectric Properties of Nanocrystalline CeO2 Films

The growth of dielectric layers on silicon substrates has attracted a great deal of recent interest given their potential applicability in the fabrication of high quality silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures, high density capacitor devices, and stable buffer layers between silicon and other materials. In this study, nanocrystalline CeO₂ films were deposited on n-type (100) silicon substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to form a gate dielectric for a Pt/n-Si/CeO₂/Pt MOS device. XRD, AFM and FESEM measurements were used to characterize the crystal structure and grain size of the CeO₂ films. The electrical properties of the device structure were examined by capacitance-voltage (C-V) and impedance spectroscopy measurements. The CeO₂ films exhibited an activated conductivity, characterized by an activation energy E_a = 0.45 eV. An estimated room temperature electron mobility _e of 2.8 × 10^{– 7} cm²/Vs leads to a corresponding electron concentration n of 5.5 × 10¹⁷ cm^{– 3}. In contrast to conventional MOS capacitors, we find an additional capacitive contribution under strong accumulation conditions as a result of space charge effects inside the CeO₂ thin film.     

Ferroelectric Na0.5K0.5NbO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Highly c-axis oriented single phase Na_0.5K_0.5NbO₃ (NKN) thin films have been deposited onto polycrystalline Pt₈₀lr₂₀ substrates and SiO₂/Si(001) wafers using pulsed laser ablation of stoichiometric ceramic target. Strong self-assembling of NKN films along the [001] direction has been observed. Properties of NKN/Pt thin film structures have been successfully tailored by oxygen pressure control from the ferroelectric state, characterized by the remnant polarization of 12 uC/cm², dielectric constant ? ～ 520 and tan δ ～ 0.024 @ 100 kHz, to superparaelectric state with tan δ as low as 0.003 and ? = 210 with very small 1.7% dispersion in the frequency domain 0.4–100 kHz and less than 10% variation in the temperature range 77–415 K. NKN films grown onto SiO₂/Si(001) substrates show quadrupled super-lattice structure along c-axis, loss tan δ less than 0.01, and ? ～ 110 @ 1 MHz. C-V measurements for Au/NKN (270nm)/SiO₂/Si MFIS-diode structure yield memory window of 3.26 V at the programmable voltage of 8 V.     

Fabrication and characterization of β−FeSi2 thin films prepared by PLD method using Nd:YAG laser

β?FeSi₂ thin films were grown on Si(111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method using a Nd:YAG laser (λ=1064nm, laser energy=50mJ, laser energy density=1.65J/cm², repetition frequency=10Hz). In the fabrication process, three targets of (a) Fe(5N), (b) FeSi₂(3N), and (c) Fe(5N)+FeSi₂(3N) were used. The β?FeSi₂ thin films having the best properties of crystallinity were obtained in the case of (c), in which the first layer as the template was formed with the target of Fe(5N) and then, on top of that, the second layer was deposited with the target of FeSi₂(3N). At this time, it was found that by XRD measurement, the degree of crystallinity of the films of case (c) in which the first layer was introduced as the template improved 1.4 times as much compared with case (a), and that by SEM and AFM observations, surface morphologies also improved. Moreover, it was found that by TEM observation, the β?FeSi₂ thin films grew uniformly along the direction of (220) or (202) from the interface of the Si substrate and the film to the free surface and that by EDS analysis, the compositions of Fe and Si were uniformly distributed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 160(2): 39–45, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ eej.20238     

Growth of MgTiO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition and their electrical properties

Abstract

MgTiO₃ thin films have been grown on various substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to investigate the application for microwave dielectrics and optical devices. Highly oriented MgTiO₃ thin films were obtained on sapphire (c-plane Al₂O₃). MgTiO₃ thin films deposited on SiO₂/Si and platinized silicon (Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si) substrates were polycrystalline nature. MgTiO₃thin films grown on sapphire were transparent in the visible and had a sharp absorption edge at 280 nm. These MgTiO₃ thin films had extremely fine feature of surface morphology, i.e., rms roughness of 0.87 nm. Dielectric constant and loss of MgTiO₃ thin films deposited by PLD were about 24 and 1.5% at 1MHz, respectively. These MgTiO₃ thin films also exhibited little dielectric dispersion.     

Comparative Characteristics of Na0.5K0.5NbO3 Films on Pt by Pulsed Laser Deposition and Magnetron Sputtering

Ferroelectric Na_0.5K_0.5NbO₃ (NKN) thin films were grown on the Pt₈₀Ir₂₀ polycrystalline substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and radio frequency-magnetron sputtering (RF) technique using the same stoichiometric Na_0.5K_0.5NbO₃ ceramic target. X-ray diffraction proved both PLD- and RF-made Na_0.5K_0.5NbO₃/Pt₈₀Ir₂₀ films are single phase and have preferential c-axis orientation. Temperature dependence of dielectric permittivity reveals the presence of two phase transitions around 210 and 410°C. Capacitance vs. applied voltage C-V @ 100 kHz, I-V, and P-E hysteresis characteristics recorded for the vertical capacitive structures yielded loss tanδ = 0.026 and 0.016, tunability about 44.5 and 30% @ 100 kV/cm, Ohmic resistivity 6.7 × 10¹² Ω·cm and 0.2 × 10¹² Ω·cm, remnant polarization 11.7 and 9.7 μC/cm², coercive field 28.0 and 94.6 kV/cm for PLD- and RF-films, respectively. Piezoelectric test carried out in hydrostatic conditions showed piezoelectric coefficient d _H = 21 for PLD-NKN and 15 pC/N for RF-NKN film.     

Heteroepitaxial Growth of High K Dielectric Thin Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

High K dielectric [Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃]_{1 ? x} -[PbTiO₃] _x (PMN_{1 ? x} -PT _x ) thin films and conducting La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) oxide electrodes were deposited on LaAlO₃ (LAO) (100) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A novel “split-target” technique was used to fabricate films with x = 0.00, 0.10, 0.35, 0.53 and 1.00. Conditions for depositing high quality films were studied. The structural characteristics of the PMN_{1 ? x} -PT _x /LSMO/LAO heterostructures were examined by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. A cube-on-cube epitaxy was obtained for films grown at 650°C and under an oxygen ambient pressure of 200 mTorr. Electrical measurement was performed with 0.2 mm diameter patterned Au top electrodes. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the PMN_{1 ? x} -PT _x films were studied as functions of frequency and temperature for x = 0.10 and 0.35. All films grown at 650°C showed small leakage current density of below 10^?7 Acm^?2 at 1 V.     

Growth and characterization of non-c-axis-oriented SrBi2Ta2O9 epitaxial thin films on Si(100) substrates with SrRuO3 bottom electrodes

Abstract

We have successfully grown non-c-axis-oriented epitaxial ferroelectric SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (SBT) films with (116) and (103) orientations on Si(100) substrates using epitaxial (110)- and (111)-oriented SrRuO₃ (SRO) bottom electrodes, respectively. The SRO orientations have been induced by coating the Si(100) substrates with epitaxial YSZ(100) and MgO(111)/ YSZ(100) buffer layers, respectively. All films were sequentially grown by pulsed laser deposition. Specific in-plane orientations of the epitaxial SBT films were found, which are in turn determined by specific in-plane orientations of the epitaxial SRO bottom electrodes. These include a diagonal rectangle-on-cube epitaxy of SRO(110) on YSZ(100) and a triangle-on-triangle epitaxy of SRO(111) on MgO(111).     

Epitaxial thin film heterostructures of relaxor ferroelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3

Abstract

We have grown stoichiometric pure perovskite phase Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-PbTiO₃ (PMN-PT) thin films and PMN-PT/SrRuO₃ heterostructures on miscut (100) SrTiO₃ substrates by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction θ–2θ scans show that the PMN-PT films are purely c-axis oriented. The off-axis Φ scans show that the heterostructures grow “cube-on-cube” with an in-plane epitaxial arrangement of PMN-PT[100], [010] // SrRuO₃[001] // SrTiO₃[100] and PMN-PT[010], [100] // SrRuO₃[110] // SrTiO₃[010]. The crystalline quality of the films found to be comparable to that of bulk single crystals. The AFM images show that the SrRuO₃ and PMN-PT layers have smooth surfaces with root mean square roughness of 9Å. These epitaxial heterostructures can be used for the fabrication of piezoelectric devices.     

Magnetic properties of insulating RTiO3 thin films

The magnetic properties of epitaxial RTiO₃ (R?=?Y, Eu) thin films are reported. The films were grown on various substrates with different lattice mismatches using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Ferromagnetic YTiO₃ thin films could only be grown on LaAlO₃ (110) substrates, while EuTiO₃ films could be grown on various substrates. The magnetic properties of the grown films are discussed in light of the structural characterization.     

Preparation of Textured Growth Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films on Si Substrate Using SrTiO3 as Buffer Layers

PZT thin films are deposited on SiO₂/Si substrate by metallo-organic decomposition (MOD) process, using SrTiO₃ (STO) as buffer layer for textured growth. The STO layers deposited on SiO₂/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition process show (100)/(200) preferred orientation, whereas the STO buffer layer deposited on silica substrate using spin-coating technique show random orientation behavior. The use of STO as buffer layers enhanced the crystallization and the preferred orientations of the PZT films. The PZT on STO buffered SiO₂/Si substrates thus obtained possess high refractive index, (n)_PZT/STO = 2.1159, and are of good enough quality for optical waveguide applications.     

Crystalline and optical properties of PLZT films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

The PLZT (3/66/34), PLZT (3/46/54), PLZT (9/65/35) and PLZT (28/0/100) thin films were deposited on MgO (100), Sapphire (0001) and fused silica substrates by using pulsed KrF excimer laser deposition technique. The conventional in-situ and 2-step heating processes were utilized to facilitate the synthesis of a large area of uniform PLZT thin film. Pure perovskite phase can be obtained only under very narrow process conditions, the highly textured PLZT films can be easily obtained by in-situ heating process. For PLZT (28/0/100) material, epitaxial films were successfully coated on MgO (100) substrates by 600°C in-situ and RTA 650°C 2-step heating processes. The latter was found to possess higher refractive index and lower extinction coefficient.     

Experimental investigation of femtosecond laser micro/nano processing of quartz material

Abstract

Quartz material is widely used in the automotive industry, aerospace, optical and electronic fields and so on. But quartz is a hard and brittle material, which makes it very difficult to process. Femtosecond laser is applied to micro/nano processing of quartz material due to its excellent performance. This paper uses different energy density femtosecond lasers to process quartz materials and analyzes the surface morphology. The experimental results show that the etching threshold of quartz material is 4.63?J/cm². The etching depth of the single pulse and the femtosecond laser beam waist radius are 0.005?μm and 8.7?μm, respectively. Besides, there are some granular characteristics on the side wall of etching groove that affect surface quality. The larger the laser power, the more deposits there are.     

Magnetically Tunable Microwave Filters based on YBCO/YIG/GGG Heterostructures

Superconducting, monolithic magnetically tunable microwave filters have been designed and fabricated demonstrating high tuning ranges (up to 19%) at a center frequency of 10 GHz. These filters are based on fully epitaxial YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition onto liquid-phase epitaxy yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layers on gadolinium iron garnet (GGG) substrates. Mechanisms resulting in variations of the bandwidth and insertion losses upon tuning are analyzed and understood in terms of the material properties of YIG and GGG.     

Epitaxial growth of multilayered (Bi,La)4Ti3O12/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ferroelectric thin films with different orientations

Epitaxial (Bi,La)₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BLT) thin films, epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin films, and epitaxial multilayered BLT/PZT ferroelectric thin films with different orientations were prepared on SrTiO₃ (STO) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. From X-ray pole-figures and electron diffraction patterns, the epitaxial orientation relationships between BLT layers, PZT layers, and STO substrates were identified to be (1) BLT(001)//PZT(001)//STO(001), and BLT[110]//PZT[100]//STO[100] for the multilayered thin films on (001)-oriented STO substrates, and (2) BLT(118)//PZT(011)//STO(011), and $ {\text{BLT}}{\left[ {\overline{1} \overline{1} 0} \right]}//{\text{PZT}}{\left[ {100} \right]}//{\text{SrTiO}}_{3} {\left[ {100} \right]} $ for the multilayered films on (011)-oriented STO substrates. Tri-layered films of the same compositions showed well-defined hysteresis loops as well as a high fatigue resistance up to 1?×?10¹⁰ switching cycles.     

Dielectric properties and schottky barriers in silver tantalate-niobate thin film capacitors

Abstract

Submicron thick ferroelectric Ag(Ta,Nb)O₃ films have been pulsed laser deposited on the bulk Pt₈₀lr₂₀ polycrystalline substrates. They are ferroelectric at temperatures below 125 K with the remnant polarization of 0.4 μC/cm² @ 77K and paraelectric at higher temperatures with tanδ@ 100 kHz as low as 0.015. Extensive I-V characterization has been performed in a wide temperature range 77 K to 350 K for vertical Me/Ag(Ta,Nb)O₃/Pt₈₀Ir₂₀ capacitive cells, where the metals Me = Pd, Au, Cr, and Al have been used as a top electrode. The electronic transport in thin Me/Ag(Ta,Nb)O₃/Pt₈₀Ir₂₀ capacitors follows the Schottky emission mechanism with the barrier height for the Pd, Au, Cr, and Al of 0.85, 0.8, 0.74, and 0.69 eV, respectively.