Influence of reactive oxygen ambience on the structural, morphological and optical properties of pulsed laser ablated potassium lithium niobate thin films

The effect of oxygen ambience on the structure and properties of potassium lithium niobate (K3Li2Nb5O15: KLN) films prepared on glass substrates by pulsed laser ablation technique (PLD) are studied. The influence of annealing on the properties of vacuum deposited films is also investigated. The Gracing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) data suggests the tetragonal structure for the KLN film whose grain sizes increase on thermal annealing. The Atomic Force Microscopic (AFM) analysis reveals the four-fold symmetric nature of the grains in the films. Self assembly of grains in the form of rings and rods are observed in AFM images of the films deposited in an oxygen ambience of 2 Pa. The films deposited at higher oxygen ambience show a blue shift in optical band gap. The direct current (DC) resistance measurement on the films deposited at non-reactive ambience reveals resistivity in the range of kΩ m.