Growth and ferroelectric properties of highly c-oriented epitaxial Aurivillius BaBi4Ti4O15 thin films

We report the growth and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial Aurivillius BaBi4Ti4O15 (BBTO) thin films with complex crystal structures deposited via a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. The BBTO thin films tended to grow in the c-orientation on the Nb-doped (100) SrTiO3 substrate. These highly c-oriented BBTO thin films could be grown by reducing the PLD deposition rate. The physical properties of the BBTO thin films were analyzed by measuring the leakage current, ferroelectric hysteresis loop, piezoelectric d(33) hysteresis loop, and fatigue. The leakage current characteristics were improved with the growth of the highly c-oriented BBTO thin films, but its ferroelectric polarizations were observed to be reduced owing to the crystal structure of BBTO. The study of the ferroelectric domain structures showed that the domain wall energy was increased by the growth of the highly c-oriented BBTO thin films.

Automated summary

Highly c-oriented BBTO thin films can be grown by reducing the PLD deposition rate. While the leakage current characteristics were improved, the ferroelectric polarizations were reduced in the highly c-oriented BBTO thin films, leading to an increase in domain wall energy.