Effects of plasma power on the epitaxial growth of (Ba0.48Sr0.52)TiO3 thin film

Abstract

We studied the effects of plasma power on the epitaxial behavior of (Ba0.48Sr0.52)TiO3 (BST) film growth on MgO (001) substrates using synchrotron x-ray scattering experiments. The BST films were grown on MgO (001) by magnetron sputtering at sputtering powers up to 3 W/cm2. We found that stress in the epitaxial BST films grown at lower powers was mainly induced by lattice mismatch, but in films grown at higher powers, it was primarily intrinsic stress. The films grown at higher powers were much more strained and exhibited better epitaxial quality. This study suggests that it is feasible to control the epitaxial quality of BST films just by varying the plasma power in magnetron sputtering. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)03913-4].