Substrate dependence in the growth of epitaxial Pb1−xLaxTiO3 thin films

Abstract

The metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique has been applied to the growth of epitaxial Pb1−xLaxTiO3 (PLT) thin films with x=0.28. By first introducing an initial TiO2 layer, three-dimensional epitaxial PLT films were grown on the (100) surface of MgO substrate. For both KTaO3 (100) and Al2O3 (0001) substrates, heteroepitaxy was achieved without the introduction of TiO2 as the initial, intervening layer between the PLT film and the substrate. On Al2O3 substrates, PLT films with a [111] preferred orientation were grown with a good epitaxial in-plane relationship.