The self out-of-plane oriented La2O2CO3 film: an integration tool for fiber textured ferroelectric thin films

Abstract

A crucial role in the miniaturization of electronic and photonic components is played by the integration of ferroelectric thin films on silicon (Si) or silicon nitride (SiN) based platforms. Since the properties of ferroelectric thin films strongly depend on their texture quality and crystallographic orientation, the integration of thin films on these platforms is far from trivial. Consequently, this leads to slow, complex and expensive integration processes. To bridge this gap, a high-throughput method for the integration of highly textured ferroelectric thin films on Si or SiN-based platforms is needed. Therefore, we have investigated a method to facilitate the integration of fiber textured ferroelectric thin films by using an ultrathin (∼7 nm) self out-of-plane oriented La₂O₂CO₃ template film. In this paper, we report a local deposition route of the La₂O₂CO₃ thin film by the scalable inkjet printing method, its inherent out-of-plane crystal orientation, and its lattice match with various ferroelectric thin films. The use of the La₂O₂CO₃ template film as an integration tool for (Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃, BaTiO₃, and BiFeO₃) thin films eventually results in strongly fiber-textured ferroelectric stacks, regardless of substrate type. Consequently, the La₂O₂CO₃ thin film has the potential to serve as a high-throughput integration tool for fiber textured ferroelectric thin films on Si or SiN-based platforms. Moreover, this integration tool could pave the way for large-scale miniaturization of photonic or electronic devices such as phase modulators, resonators, capacitors, etc.