Study of solid-state reaction of CaCO3 and RuO2 and fabrication of pseudocubic epitaxial thin films by e-beam evaporation

Pure CaRuO3 powders were prepared from solid-state reaction using stoichiometric RuO2 (99.9%) and CaCO3 (99.99%) powders. The process of the reaction was investigated employing thermogravimetry analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA and DSC). The solid-state reaction rate increased when the compounds were heated in flowing air/oxygen, as it acted as a catalyst. The phase variations in samples heated at different temperatures were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the alignments of the films studied by XRD-rocking curves and pole-figures. The microstructures of powders were measured by scanning electron microscopy. Biaxially textured CaRuO3 thin films were formed at 700 °C by e-beam evaporation, and they showed strong (0 0 1) orientation on SrTiO3 (1 0 0) substrates.