Preparation and characterization of Ce-doped BaTiO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Thin films of BaTiO3 doped with 5.5 mol% CeO2 have been deposited on Pt/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition. These films crystallize on the tetragonal BaTiO3 structure without any preferential orientation. Ce-doped BaTiO3 films deposited by PLD at 675degreesC in 30 Pa ambient oxygen exhibits a smooth surface: mean surface roughness (Rms) of 48 nm, mean size of grain of similar to40 Angstrom, average size of aggregates of similar to 315 nm. Thin films as prepared presented good dielectric characteristics: dielectric constant and dielectrics loss ( tan delta) at a frequency of 1 KHz were 220 and 0.2, respectively. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant exhibited a diffuse ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition at about 0 - 10degreesC. The ferroelectric nature of Ce-doped BaTiO3 film was confirmed by the hysteresis of the C-V curves. (C) 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.