Preparation and characterization of CrO2 films by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition from CrO3

Highly oriented CrO2 thin films have been heteroepitaxially grown on TiO2 rutile (110), (100) and (001) single crystalline substrates, by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition from CrO3 as precursor and flowing oxygen as carrier gas, under a pressure of 67 Pa. The experimental conditions were fine tuned by depositing on polycrystalline Ti foils, to improve the purity of the films and the deposition rate. A maximum deposition rate of 175 nm h(-1) was obtained. The composition and texture of films, up to 2 mu m thick, have been determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Micro Raman, while their microstructure has been examined by Scanning Electron Microcopy and Atomic Force Microscopy, and their magnetic behavior has been tested by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. These techniques reveal that the phase purity, texture, microstructure and thickness of these films are dependent on the crystalline face of the rutile substrate and the deposition temperature. Thus, microscopy techniques, XRD and Raman spectroscopy confirm that highly textured CrO2 films were always obtained on the three rutile substrate faces when deposition temperature ranges between 616 K and 636 K. But these techniques also show that CrO2 films are unpurified with inclusions or patches of Cr2O3, for the most of the substrates and especially at high deposition temperatures. Magnetic measurements conclusively demonstrate that pure CrO2 films are only obtained when TiO2 (110) is used as a substrate. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.