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Growth of La2Ti2O7 and LaTiO3 thin films using pulsed laser deposition

Description:

The influence of substrate temperature, oxygen activity of the ambient gas, and substrate type on the growth morphology, phase selection, and epitaxy of thin films in the LaTiOx (x≈3.0 or 3.5) family were investigated. The films were deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a La2Ti2O7 target and were characterized using X-ray diffraction. In oxygen atmospheres, coupled with high deposition temperatures and use of (1 1 0)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates, the growth of epitaxial films of (1 1 0)-layered perovskite La2Ti2O7 is observed. However, under similar deposition conditions, on SrTiO3(1 0 0) substrates, no crystalline peaks were observed even at the higher temperatures. The reduction of Ti4+ to Ti3+ was achieved by the use of nitrogen atmospheres. This resulted in the formation of the cubic perovskite LaTiO3, on SrTiO3(1 1 0), SrTiO3(1 0 0), and LaAlO3(1 0 0) substrates.