Optical and Structural investigations of LiNbO3 thin films by PLD

Abstract

Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) nanostructure thin film was prepared and deposited on the substrates made of quartz by utilizing pulse laser deposition (PLD) technique. The effect of substrate temperature changing on the optical and structural properties of LiNbO3 films was investigated and studied. The chemical mixture was prepared by mixing the raw material (Li2CO3, Nb2O5) with Ethanol liquid without any further purification, at the stirrer time 3hrs without heating, then the formed material was overexposed to annealing process at 1000°C for 4hrs. LiNbO3 nanostructure thin film was characterized and analyzed by utilizing the Ultra-Violet visible (UV-vis) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The UV-vis results showed that the increase in the substrate temperature to 300°C leads to decrease in the values of transmission (T%), absorption (A) and optical energy gap (Eg) and increase in the values of reflection (R%) and refractive index (n). While, the XRD results explained that the LiNbO3 structure became more pure and crystalline with increase the substrate temperature, because the intensity of the phase 2θ at the value of 34.8°, 40.06° and 48.48° correspond to (110), (113) and (024) planes disappeared at the substrate temperature 300°C. So, all presented results give a good indication to use LiNbO3 nanostructure thin film prepared at the substrate temperature 300°C for manufacturing the optical waveguide to give the best results.