AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Friday Sessions
       Session AS-FrM

Paper AS-FrM3
RBS, ERDA and XPS Study of Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 Epitaxial Thin Films Prepared by PLD for Electro-Optical Applications

Friday, November 17, 2006, 8:40 am, Room 2005

Session: Thin Film Characterization
Presenter: P.F. Ndione, Université du Québec, Canada
Authors: P.F. Ndione, Université du Québec, Canada
M. Kaidi, Université du Québec, Canada
C. Durand, Université du Québec, Canada
M. Chaker, Université du Québec, Canada
R. Morandotti, Université du Québec, Canada
Correspondent: Click to Email
The development of integrated optic devices requires electro-optical materials with high transparency and good stoichiometry. Ferroelectric materials like strontium barium niobate (SrxBa1-xNb2O6, also called SBN-x) have been widely investigated because of their excellent electro-optical properties. Calcium barium niobate (CaxBa1-xNb2O6, also called CBN-x) possesses physical properties very close to those of SBN, while exhibiting a much higher Curie temperature (Tc higher than 250 °C for CBN single crystals). Therefore, CBN may be an excellent alternative to SBN for the realization of a new range of optical devices operating at high temperature. The fabrication of thin film is very attractive because it provides compatibility with integrated optical systems and other miniaturized devices and reduces their cost. Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique is suitable to grow complex oxides thin films, since it enable the preparation of stoichiometric and high quality epitaxial thin films. Nevertheless, oxygen deficiency or elements desorption from the surface of the films during the deposition process, lead to mixed valencies and other stoichiometric defects that modify the properties of the thin films. Therefore, it is very important to control the stoichiometry of thin films. Various surface analyses have been used for investigating the characteristics of ferroelectric thin films. In this paper, we present the composition, structure and chemical bonding states in CBN-28 thin films deposited at different oxygen pressure by PLD. A description of the elastic scattering processes which give rise to Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA) is given with particular attention paid to the complementarity of these two techniques for the detection of relatively heavy and light elements respectively. These analyses are completed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) which give the chemical bonding states in CBN-28.