Laser deposition and dielectric properties of cubic pyrochlore bismuth zinc niobate thin films

The Bi1.5ZnNb1.5O7 (BZN) thin films with cubic pyrochlore structure were prepared on Pt/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition from a stoichiometric target. The crystallinity, surface morphology, and dielectric properties of BZN thin films at different substrate temperatures were investigated. It was found that the BZN films had a pure cubic pyrochlore structure when deposited at 550-650 degrees C and the strong (222) texture at 650 degrees C. The cubic BZN thin films deposited at 600 degrees C had a dielectric loss lower than 0.004 and maximum voltage tunability of 6% with an applied bias field of 0.5 MV/cm under 100 kHz. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.