1. Phase and structural characterization of Sr2Nb2O7 and SrNbO3 thin films grown via pulsed laser ablation in O2 or N2 atmospheres
- Author
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Balasubramaniam, K.R., Cao, Y., Patel, N., Havelia, S., Cox, P.J., Devlin, E.C., Yu, E.P., Close, B.J., Woodward, P.M., and Salvador, P.A.
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NIOBATES , *EPITAXY , *PULSED laser deposition , *PEROVSKITE - Abstract
Abstract: The influence of substrate temperature, process gas, deposition pressure, and substrate type on the phase selection, orientation/epitaxy, and growth morphology of thin films in the SrNbO y (y≈3.0 or 3.5) family was investigated. Pulsed laser deposited films (from a Sr2Nb2O7 target) obtained in both oxygen and nitrogen atmospheres upon various substrates were characterized with X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. In oxygen atmospheres, films adopted the (110)-layered perovskite structure of the target. Higher temperatures, lower pressures of oxygen, and use of (110)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates lead to highly crystalline, epitaxial films of Sr2Nb2O7. The use of nitrogen atmospheres resulted in cubic perovskite SrNbO3 formation: epitaxial, textured, or polycrystalline films were obtained depending on the substrate; no nitrogen incorporation could be observed on the anion sublattice. On SrTiO3, the cubic perovskite films followed a cube-on-cube epitaxy and planar defects were observed to occur on the (110) perovskite planes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2008
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