Effect of Ambient Gas Pressure on the Preferred Orientation of Barium Titanate Thin Films Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Barium titanate thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition. The effect of ambient gas pressure on the preferred orientations of the films was systematically investigated. Irrespective of the substrate used, the preferred orientation of films deposited without oxygen flow (10-5 Torr) was the (100) equivalent planes which are electrically neutral. The orientation varied with increasing ambient gas pressure. The variation in the film orientations also depended on the type of substrate. An explanation of the cause of variation in the film orientation with the deposition pressure was attempted in relation to the ionic species near the substrate during deposition.