Deposition and analysis of lithium niobate and other lithium niobium oxides by rf magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The deposition of thin films of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) on silicon with rf magnetron sputtering has been investigated. A matrix of experiments was designed to determine the effect of several parameters on the resulting film quality. Under optimized conditions, oriented polycrystalline films of LiNbO3 are produced that exhibit a columnar grain structure with the polar axis normal to the substrate surface. Deviations from sputtering parameters optimized for producing LiNbO3, have been shown to produce films of varying proportions of either LiNb3O8 or Li3NbO4 with LiNbO3. The stoichiometry, microstructure, and electrical properties of selected films have been investigated with Rutherford backscattering, diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, and a variety of electrical measurement techniques.

Epitaxial Growth and Properties of Doped Transition Metal and Complex Oxide Films

“…MS has been used to grow a variety of epitaxial oxides of interest as optical waveguides, [217] light emitters, [218][219][220][221] capacitor dielectrics, [222,223] high-T c superconductors, [224][225][226][227][228] photocatalysts, [229] gas sensors, [83] ferroelectrics, [230][231][232][233] piezoelectrics, [46,234] conductive oxides, [235][236][237][238][239] gate dielectrics, [29,[240][241][242][243][244] magnetoresistive materials, [245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252][253][254][255][256][257] general purpose insulators, [258,259] magnetic insulators, [260,261...…”

Preparation and luminescent characteristic of Li3NbO4 nanophosphor

“…In particular, lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) has wide device potential applications, because it has well acoustooptic, nonlinear-optic, electro-optic, piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties [3]. One goal of thin-film research is to deposit thin films of material that retain at least some of the properties of the bulk [4]. In this regard, LiNbO 3 is an especially interesting candidate for study, since it possesses a wide variety of electrical and optical properties [4].…”

Lithium transition metal (Ti, Nb, V) oxide mesoporous thin films: Contrasting results when attempting direct synthesis by evaporation-induced self assembly

“…Since there is no known crystalline phase with a 1:2 Li:Nb molar ratio, a mixture of LiNbO 3 and LiNb 3 O 8 was expected on the basis of the phase diagram [36]. The presence of the Nb 2 O 5 phase might therefore be considered as an indication of cationic inhomogeneity but this conclusion must be taken with care in the absence of literature data on the crystallization of LiNb 3 O 8 from sol-gel precursors.…”