Epitaxial growth of LiNbO3 thin films by excimer laser ablation method and their surface acoustic wave properties

Abstract
We have formed epitaxial LiNbO3 thin films of high quality on sapphire substrates (001) using an excimer‐laser ablation technique and evaluated the surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties of these films. It is demonstrated that the LiNbO3 thin films on the sapphire are the candidates for a high frequency SAW filter because of their high velocities of propagation (5300–6600 m/s) and good temperature coefficients (−34 to −80 ppm/ °C).