Structural Control of Epitaxially Grown Sputtered PbTiO3 Thin Films

Abstract
Microstructures of sputtered PbTiO3 films on SrTiO3 substrates have been studied. It is known that the epitaxial PbTiO3 films include microstructures. It was found that the formation of these microstructures was strongly influenced by the off-stoichiometry of the sputtered films and substrate surface microstructures. Sputtering under the stoichiometric condition on miscut (001)SrTiO3 led to the growth of ultrathin single-crystal PbTiO3 films 10-100 nm thick with continuous structure; under the off-stoichiometric condition the sputtered films comprised microstructures with screwlike dislocation. The ultrathin films exhibited lattice distortion which modified their ferroelectric properties.