High tunability (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films grown on atomic layer deposited TiO2 and Ta2O5 buffer layers

In this letter, we report on increased tunability of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) thin films by use of Ta2O5 and TiO2 films as buffer layers between BST and Si substrates. Ta2O5 and TiO2 buffer layers were grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) onto Si substrates followed by pulsed laser deposition of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films onto the buffer layers. The randomly oriented BST films deposited on TiO2/Si substrates exhibited a broader grain size distribution than the (110) textured BST films grown on Ta2O5/Si substrates. At an applied voltage of 10 V, the BST films grown on Ta2O5/Si and TiO2/Si substrates showed much enhanced tunability values of 53.1% and 72.9%, respectively, as compared to the 20.7% value obtained with BST films grown on MgO single crystal substrates. Successful integration of BST low voltage microwave tunable devices onto Si substrates thus appears possible with the aid of ALD grown Ta2O5 or TiO2 buffer layers. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.