Effect of annealing time on microstructure and morphology of thin films by sputtering deposition with (Ba0.3Sr0.7)(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 target

Abstract

The ceramic thin films have been fabricated by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique on SiO2 (110) substrates with (Ba0.3Sr0.7)(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 target, and then the thin films were annealed at 1,150 °C for different times at O2 atmosphere. The microstructure and morphology of the thin films were investigated as a function of the annealing times using the X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy techniques. The results show that the microstructure, morphology, and crystallinity of the thin films can be affected by the annealing times significantly. The main phases of the samples are indexed to be Ba0.5Sr0.5Nb2O6 and Ba0.27Sr0.75Nb2O5.78, which are different from component of the (Ba0.3Sr0.7)(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 target due to the volatilization of ZnO. The crystalline quality of the thin films decreases when the annealing time is shorter or longer than 30 min, and the roughness and grain size of the thin films reaches a maximum value when the annealing time is 30 min.