Pulsed laser deposition of ilmenite FeTiO3 epitaxial thin film onto sapphire substrate

In this work, ilmenite structure FeTiO3 thin films on alpha-Al2O3 (0001) substrates were prepared by Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposition. Different deposition conditions with different temperatures, and different partial gas pressures of different gases were used. It was found that an epitaxial and stoichiometric FeTiO3 single-crystal film can be prepared at 450 degrees C in several different ambients, including pure argon, vacuum and Ar + 5%O-2 at different partial pressures respectively. However, the beat film was ablated using 5% oxygen and argon gas mixed ambient of 0.01 mbar at 450 degrees C. With the temperature lower than 300 degrees C or higher than 500 degrees C, we could not obtain crystalline or even single-phase FeTiO3 film. X-ray diffraction and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry with channeling were used to characterize the films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.