Na0.5K0.5NbO3/SiO2/Si thin film varactor

Perfectly c-axis oriented micrometer thick Na0.5K0.5NbO3(NKN) films have been prepared on a thermally grown ultrathin SiO2 template layer onto a Si(001) wafer by the pulsed laser deposition technique. A x-ray diffraction theta-2 theta scan reveals multiple-cell structuring of single phase NKN film along the polar axis, while films grown onto amorphous ceramic (Corning) glass show a mixture of slightly c-axis oriented NKN and pyrochlore phases. This implies a small amount of SiO2 crystallites distributed in an amorphous matrix inherit Si(001) orientation and promotes highly oriented NKN film growth. NKN film dielectric permittivity epsilon' was found to vary from 114.0 to 107.2 in the frequency range 1 kHz-1 MHz, while the resistivity was on the order of 2.6 x 10(10) Ohm cm @ 20 kV/cm. The planar interdigital variable reactance device (varactor) based on the NKN/SiO2/Si thin film structure possesses a dissipation factor of 0.8% at 1 MHz and zero bias, electrical tunability of 3.1%, and nA order leakage current at 20 V bias at room temperature. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)04813-0].