Perovskite lead titanate PLD thin films: study of oxygen incorporation by O-18 tracing technique

PbTiO3 (PT) films have been deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) tech nique on polycrystalline platinum substrate kept at a constant temperature of 550 degrees C in a 30 Pa O-18 atmosphere pressure. The fluence and the l aser repetition (frequency quadrupled Nd-YAG, 266 nm) have been varied in t he range 1.5-3 J cm(-2) and 2-10 Hz, respectively. The obtained films exhib it a perovskite structure and have been analyzed by dynamic secondary ion m ass spectrometry (D-SIMS) in order to determine the concentration profiles of O-16 (coming from the PbTiO3 target) and O-18 (ambient gas). The effects of different parameters of the PLD process are discussed, such as the cool ing step of the film in oxygen atmosphere after deposition, the laser repet ition rate and the gas phase reactions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.