Stoichiometric lithium niobate thin films preparation by sol-gel method

Abstract

We present our studies on preparation of LiNbO 3 oriented stoichiometric thin films by sol-gel method. The technology of synthesis of precursor systems, containing Li and Nb, has been developed. Studies of structure, morphology, optical and physical properties were carried out. The lattice parameters have been determined and correspond to stoichiometric lithium niobate crystals. The crystallographic orientation of LiNbO 3 films corresponds to orientation of a sapphire substrate, i.e. on substrates with orientation (0001) the C axis of film is perpendicular to a substrate surface, and on ( 0 2 11 ) substrate C axes lays in a plane of a substrate. The developed method allowed to obtain lithium niobate thin films with 300-700 nm thickness, transparent, with precise crystallographic orientation both on sapphire substrate and conductive ZnO films.