Microstructures in BaTiO3 thin films by hydrothermal growth and lift-off technique

Barium titanate microstructures with minimum feature sizes of 2.5 mu m are fabricated on silicon substrates coated with platinum by a combination of h ydrothermal growth and lift-off. Polycrystalline, cubic barium titanate is grown at a temperature of 80 degrees C. Microstructures are obtained by pos itive and negative patterning processes, where the former leads to the bett er lift-off results due to the thicker resist layer. The minimum feature si ze of 2.5 mu m refers to the minimum line width and separation between stru ctures. It is limited by the optical lithography used in this work. The res olution of the pattern edges is estimated to be approximately 80 nm and wou ld allow the fabrication of even smaller patterns. Additionally, it is show n that the use of electrochemistry for growth of thin barium titanate films is compatible with lift-off and leads to similar pattern definition. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.