Composition and annealing effects on the linear electro-optic response of solution-deposited barium strontium titanate

Chemical solution deposition was used to deposit epitaxial Ba(x)Sr((1-)(x)())TiO(3)thin films on SrTiO(3)template layers on Si(001) forx = 1.0, 0.7, 0.5, 0.3, and 0.0. Effective Pockels coefficients were determined as a function of film composition both for as-deposited films (crystallized at 600 degrees C) and for the films after annealing at 750 degrees C for 10 hours. Pockels response decreased monotonically with decreasing Ba content and coefficients were higher for annealed films, reaching 89 +/- 3 pm/V for annealed BaTiO3. These results are contextualized with the aid of X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission microscopy, which illuminated the crystallinity and defect nature of the films.