Epitaxial BaSnO3 thin films with low dislocation density grown on lattice matched LaInO3 substrates

Abstract

The use of LaInO3 with (110) surface orientation was investigated as a novel orthorhombic substrate for the epitaxial growth of semiconducting BaSnO3 thin films. On the basis of reflection high-energy electron diffraction, energy dispersive x-ray analysis and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry measurements, we revealed that slight Ba doping of LaInO3 crystals is beneficial to stabilize the substrate surface, which facilitates the epitaxial growth of well-ordered BaSnO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition. Fully strained BaSnO3 films without misfit dislocations found by means of transmission electron microscopy were achieved due to the negligible lattice mismatch between BaSnO3 film and Ba-doped LaInO3 substrate. Electric properties of La-doped BaSnO3 films exhibit a Hall-mobility of 69 cm2 V−1 s−1 at room temperature and 99 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 20 K at a constant charge carrier density of 3.8·1019 cm−3.