Nanoscale patterning of functional perovskite-type complex oxides by pulsed laser deposition through a nanostencil

We present studies on parallel nanoscale patterning of piezoelectrics/ferroelectrics via deposition through a nanostencil. Unlike other processes reported for oxide nanostructuring, we selectively deposit the material, directly, by interposing a nanosieve between the substrate and the deposition source. We show that this selective deposition can be realized even with materials as complex as perovskite oxides, both at room temperature and at high temperature. We elaborate on and analyze the performance of the nanostenciling approach for the growth of barium titanate BaTiO3 on strontium titanate SrTiO3(1 0 0). The patterned structures of ferroelectric materials are characterized by X-ray diffraction and imaged locally by scanning probe microscopy in piezoresponse mode to individually probe their functionality. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.