Lattice guiding for low temperature crystallization of rhombohedral perovskite-structured oxide thin films

Low temperature crystallization of complex oxide thin films has proved to be a challenge with deposition of such materials often carried out at elevated temperatures in excess of 600ºC. This article demonstrates one of the first instances of deposition of preferentially oriented strontium-doped lead zirconate titanate thin films at a relatively low temperature of 300ºC. This was achieved by carrying out deposition on gold-coated silicon substrates which exert a guiding influence on thin film growth due to similarity in lattice parameters. The microstructure and preferential orientations were studied using high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. These results illustrated the pronounced texture in the deposited thin films due to lattice guiding, with crystal structure simulations also verifying the guiding effect.