Combinatorial synthesis and high throughput evaluation of ferroelectric/dielectric thin-film libraries for microwave applications

Abstract

A library of 256 differently doped thin films of (BaxSr1−x)TiO3 (where 0.5<x<1.0) was generated on a 1 in.×1 in. LaAlO3 substrate using multistep thin-film deposition techniques together with a quaternary masking strategy. Appropriate postannealing processing afforded high-quality epitaxial thin films. The microwave properties, i.e., dielectric constant and loss tangent, of samples in the library were characterized with a scanning-tip microwave near-field microscope at 1 GHz, and the results were found to be consistent with measurements made with interdigital electrodes. Specific dopants were found to significantly affect the dielectric constant and tangent loss. Tungsten, in particular, reduces the tangent loss.