Growth of PbTiO 3 thin films by r.f. sputtering on vicinal MgO(100) substrates

Abstract

The growth behaviour and crystalline quality of c axis oriented PbTiO 3 thin films deposited on 5.5 ° vicinal MgO(100) substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering have been studied in comparison with those on exact MgO(100) substrates. The film on the vicinal substrate grew epitaxially along a crystallographic direction but slight misorientation occurred owing to the presence of vertical lattice mismatch between the film and the steps on the substrate surface. Detailed X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the film of a cubic phase above the Curie temperature was misoriented by 0.7 ° with respect to the [100] direction of the substrate, while c and a domains of a tetragonal phase at room temperature were misoriented by 1 ° and 0.5 ° respectively. The crystalline quality of the film on the vicinal substrate was also found to be superior to that on the exact substrate.