Gold‐Particle‐Enhanced Crystallite Growth of Thin Films of Barium Titanate Prepared by the Sol‐Gel Process

Abstract

The effects of gold‐particle incorporation on the structure of barium titanate (BaTiO3) thin films was investigated. BaTiO3 thin films (110 nm thick) with different gold concentrations were prepared via sol‐gel processing and analyzed using X‐ray diffractometry. The diffraction results showed that the crystal structure of the thin films changed from predominantly the cubic phase to the tetragonal phase, and the crystallite size increased as the gold concentration increased. Possible mechanisms for the gold‐enhanced crystallization have been discussed.