Tailoring of the preferred orientation and microstructure in the deposition of BaTiO3 thin films using pulsed laser deposition

In the deposition of BaTiO3 thin films using pulsed laser deposition, the preferred orientations and microstructures were critically changed with ambient oxygen pressure. In order to tailor the preferred orientation, template layers which were deposited at different oxygen pressure were introduced. These template layers acted as seed layers, and the preferred orientation of entire films was the same as that of the template layer regardless of the oxygen pressure during deposition. Microstructure of the film was not related with the kind of the template layer. It was closely related with the oxygen pressure during the deposition. In the deposition at 10(-5) Torr, films had different preferred orientations according to the kind of a template layer. However, each film had a dense and smooth surface. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.