Pulsed laser deposition of PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3 thin films and PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3/PbTiO3 multilayers

We have fabricated epitaxial thin films of the relaxer Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 (PMN) and multilayer structures of relaxor/ferroelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3/PbTiO3 (PMN/PTO) using pulsed laser deposition. We present results obtained using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on thin films of PMN grown on single crystal (100) SrTiO3 substrates using a stoichiometric PMN ceramic target and a PMN-2%Mg target. With the latter target we were able to produce pyrochlore free thin films. RHEED images 140Angstrom PMN films consist of sharp lines and Kikuchi bands which indicate smooth surfaces. This is home out by the observation of XRD Lane (thickness) oscillations. TEM images of PMN films with some pyrochlore show the PMN growth is columnar and the widths are on the order of 400 Angstrom. Multilayer structures of (PMNA2/PTOA2)(4) (Lambda is the modulation period) were successfully grown. Satellite peaks were observed for these quadrilayer structures and preliminary analysis indicates that for the majority of the tetragonal PTO layers are oriented with the c-axis in the plane of the film.