The effect of deposition time on sputtered barium strontium titanate thin films

Abstract

This work focuses on the significant effect of different deposition time on the material properties of RF sputtered Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) thin films. The Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 TiO 3 thin films were deposited at two different durations (2 and 3 hours) on cleaned sapphire substrates via RF magnetron sputtering system, achieving ∼124 nm and ∼350 nm respectively. These BST thin films were post-annealed for 2 hours at 900 □ and then characterized using several analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron (FESEM). AFM analysis shows that longer deposition time produces rougher surface due to larger grain size formation. An intense (110) peak is observed via XRD indicating the preferred orientation of the BST thin films. From the FESEM results it was noticed that the 3 hour deposition images are dense and uniform as compared to 2 hour deposition. These results suggest that their material characteristics have been enhanced due to the increased deposition time.