Growth of epitaxial site-engineered Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂-basded thin films by MOCVD and their characterization

Thin films of BIT, La-substituted BIT (BLT) and La- and V-cosubstituted BIT(BLTV) were epitaxially grown on SrRuO₃//SrTiO₃ substrates at 850°C by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and their electrical properties were systematically compared. All films on (100), (110) and (111)-oriented substrates were epitaxially grown with (001)-, (104)-/(014)-and (118) -preferred orientations, respectively. The leakage current density of the BLTV film was almost the same with that of the BUT film, but was smaller than that of BIT film, suggesting that the La substitution contributed to the decrease of the leakage current density especially in pseudoperovskite layer. Spontaneous polarization of the BLTV film was estimated to be almost the same with the BLT film but was smaller that that of the BIT film. This is explained by the decrease of Tc with the La substitution, while V did not contribute to the change of the Curie temperature (Tc). On the other hand, the coercive field (Ec) value of the BLTV was smaller than that of the BIT and the BLT films. As a result, La substitution contributed to the decrease of the leakage current density together with the decrease of the spontaneous polarization due to the decrease of the Tc. On the other hand, V substitution contributes to the decrease of the defects that suppress the domain motion and increases the Ec value. Therefore, each substitution of La and V plays different roles and this contribution is remarkable for the films deposited at lower temperature.