Structural and dielectric properties of epitaxial Sm2O3 thin films

Epitaxial Sm2O3 thin films were deposited on (001) SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The structural and dielectric properties were investigated. Microstructural studies by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy showed that the Sm2O3 thin films have a cubic structure and an epitaxial relationship of (004)(Sm2)O-3 parallel to(002)(SrTiO3) and [440](Sm2)O-3 parallel to[200](SrTiO3). A high dielectric constant of 30.5 was found, which can be attributed to the cubic structure and the high crystalline quality and shows a potential application of epitaxial Sm2O3 thin film for high-k material. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.