Pulsed Laser Deposition of Lithium Niobate Thin Films

摘要

Pulsed laser deposition of lithium Niobate thin films onto sapphire (0001) substrates is reported. Thin films composition and structure have been determined using Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments. The influence of deposition parameters such as substrate temperature, oxygen pressure and target to substrate distance on the composition and the structure of the films has been studied. Deposition temperature is found to be an important parameter which enables us to grow LiNbO_3 films without the Li deficient phase LiNb_3O_8. Nearly stoichiometric thin films have been obtained for an oxygen pressure of 0.1 Torr and a substrate temperature of 800 deg C. Under optimized conditions the (001) preferential orientation of growth, suitable for most optical applications, has been obtained.