The precursor manipulation of La2Zr2O7 epi-layers annealed by rapid thermal annealing

Abstract

This paper reports on the epitaxial growth of a La₂Zr₂O₇ (LZO) buffer layer on the cube textured Ni-5 at.%W substrate with nitrates as the precursor salts. The solution stability and heat treatment routes were discussed in detail. In order to increase the stability of the nitrate solution, the dielectric constant of the solvent was discussed and alcohol amines were used as the chelating agent. The decomposition route of the precursor salt for each solution system was studied systematically before and after chelation. Subsequently, a cube-textured LZO epi-layer was obtained by rapid thermal annealing with the Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum (FWHM) values for in-plane and out-of-plane orientation found to be 7.0° and 5.0° respectively, demonstrating the feasibility of the nitrate solution route and the importance of the precursor properties for the epitaxial growth of the LZO layers.