The effect of target crystallography on the growth of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 thin films using pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition has been used to make two sets of lead magnesium niobate thin films grown on single-crystal {100} MgO substrates, One set was fabricated using a perovskite-rich target while the other used a pyrochlore-rich target. It was found that the growth conditions required to produce almost 100% perovskite Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 (PMN) films were largely independent of target crystallography. Films were characterized crystallographically using x-ray diffraction and plan view transmission electron microscopy, chemically using energy dispersive x-ray analysis, and electrically by fabricating a planar thin film capacitor structure and monitoring capacitance as a function of temperature. All characterization techniques indicated that perovskite PMN thin films had been successfully fabricated.