Characterization of Highly-Oriented Ferroelectric Pb_xBa_1−x TiO₃ Thin Films Grown by Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

Pb x Ba 1−x TiO 3 (0.2 ഛ x ഛ 1) thin films were deposited on single-crystal MgO as well as amorphous Si 3 N 4 /Si substrates using biaxially textured MgO buffer templates, grown by ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD). The ferroelectric films were stoichiometric and highly oriented, with only (001) and (100) orientations evident in x-ray diffraction (XRD) scans. Films on biaxially textured templates had smaller grains (60 nm average) than those deposited on single-crystal MgO (300 nm average). Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been used to study the microtexture on both types of substrates and the results were consistent with x-ray pole figures and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs that indicated the presence of 90°domain boundaries, twins, in films deposited on single-crystal MgO substrates. In contrast, films on biaxially textured substrates consisted of small single-domain grains that were either c or a oriented. The surface-sensitive EBSD technique was used to measure the tetragonal tilt angle as well as in-plane and out-of-plane texture. High-temperature x-ray diffraction (HTXRD) of films with 90°domain walls indicated large changes, as much as 60%, in the c and a domain fractions with temperature, while such changes were not observed for Pb x Ba 1−x TiO 3 (PBT) films on biaxially textured MgO/Si 3 N 4 /Si substrates, which lacked 90°domain boundaries.

Growth and optical property characterization of textured barium titanate thin films for photonic applications

“…Ferroelectric thin films can be grown using pulsed laser deposition [4], metal organic chemical vapor deposition [4][5][6], sol-gel synthesis [7] and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [1,8]. MBE can be used to grow complex oxide thin film structures with atomic layer accuracy [9].…”

Identification of magnetic Fe-Ti oxides in marine sediments by electron backscatter diffraction in scanning electron microscopy

“…They performed a detailed crystallographic study on microcrystals of natural pyrite framboids. Other work from El-Naggar et al (2005) has even reported EBSD measurements on grains as small as 50 nm.…”