A novel approach to synthesizing calcium copper titanate thin films with giant dielectric constants

We report on the MOCVD growth of CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films on LaAlO3 (001) substrates adopting a multimetal molten source, consisting of Ti(tmhd)2(i-Opr)2, Ca(hfa)2otetraglyme and Cu(tmhd)2 precursor mixture. The synthesis of this multi-element oxide phase has required considerable efforts to define the appropriate deposition conditions for the fabrication of high quality CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films. The growth of the oxide layer by a two step in-situ process, namely deposition of an amorphous matrix and the consequent in-situ annealing, has resulted in epitaxial (00?) CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses have been performed to characterize structural, morphological and compositional features of CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films. Good optical properties have been measured as well.