Evaluation of Residual Stress in Thin Ferroelectric Films Using Grazing Incident X-Ray Diffraction

Abstract

A comparative study of three methods for thin film, in-plane residual strain evaluation is presented. Thin films of SrTiO₃ and Ba_xSr_{(1 - x)}TiO₃ deposited using pulsed laser deposition on LaAlO₃ and MgO substrates were investigated. It is shown that the most precise way to evaluate thin film, in-plane residual strain is by using Grazing Incidence X-ray diffraction.

Keywords:

• In-plane residual strain
• Grazing Incidence X-ray diffraction
• Barium Strontium Titanate

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by the EU framework V and EPSRC.

Notes

*a and b lattice parameters were calculated using (012), (024), (102) and (204) STO film reflections.