Direct patterning of complex oxides by pulsed laser deposition through stencils

The possibilities to grow isolated structures of complex oxides by pulsed laser\ud deposition through stencils were investigated. A stencil consisting of a SiN membrane with apertures of several hundred nanometers embedded in a Si chip is placed in front of a heated substrate (up to 750 degrees Celsius). Deposition through these apertures results in resistless, direct patterning by local deposition of complex oxides like ferroelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate. The created isolated structures were analyzed by AFM imaging. Under-deposition, in this work called broadening, is inevitable during stencil deposition and is depending on deposition parameters, especially pressure. Different causes of broadening are mapped and discussed

Complex plume stoichiometry during pulsed laser deposition of SrVO₃ at low oxygen pressures

To control the pulsed laser deposition synthesis, knowledge on the relationship between the plasma plume and the grown thin film is required. We show that the oxidation of species in the plasma plume still affects the SrVO3 growth even at low oxygen partial pressures. Optical emission spectroscopy measurements for the plasma plume at different growth conditions were correlated with the film properties determined by Atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transport. At reducing oxygen pressures, the background argon pressure can affect the oxidation in the plasma plume, which in turn controls the growth kinetics, stoichiometry, and electrical properties of the films

On the importance of the SrTiO₃ template and the electronic contact layer for the integration of phase-pure low hysteretic Pb(Mg_0.33Nb_0.67)O₃-PbTiO₃ layers with Si

The rapid advent of the piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems (PiezoMEMS) field has created a tremendous demand for low hysteretic piezoelectric thin films on Si. In this work, we present the integration of epitaxial Pb(Mg0.33Nb0.67)O3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) thin films with Si to enable device fabrication using state of the art methods. With optimized buffer layers and electronic contacts, high-quality low hysteretic PMN-PT thin films are integrated with Si, which is a significant stride towards employing PMN-PT thin film for PiezoMEMS devices. It is found that the processing of the necessary SrTiO3 buffer layer is crucial to achieve the growth of phase-pure perovskite PMN-PT layers on Si. Furthermore, we propose the engineering of the electronic contact for the PMN-PT-on-Si capacitors to obtain low hysteretic polarization and displacement responses.</p