When Pt meets BaTiO3: Interaction between metal nanoparticles and oxide thin films

With the help of a focused ion beam, we can control the location of BaTiO₃ (BTO) grains during pulsed laser deposition by the use of metal nanoparticles seeds as templates. The metal nanoparticles act as nucleation sites on which to grow the BTO grains. Combined with recent work where control of BTO grain orientation was successfully demonstrated [Thin Solid Films, 518, 5806 (2010)], we can widely use the method to deposit various oxide nanoparticles in particular locations with controlled size and orientation. Such an approach could be useful for nanotechnology and device fabrication.