Investigation on the growth of CaCu3Ti4O12 thin film and the origins of its dielectric relaxations

Using the radio frequency magnetron sputtering, CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) thin films were deposited on platinized silicon substrates. The influence of annealing temperature on structures and morphologies of the thin films was investigated. The high annealing temperature increased the crystallinity of the films. Temperature dependence of the dielectric constant revealed an amazing different characteristic of the dielectric relaxation at ∼10 MHz, whose characteristic frequency abnormally increased with the decrease of the measuring temperature unlike the relaxations due to extrinsic origins. Meanwhile, the dielectric constant at high frequencies was close to the value derived from the first principle calculation. All these gave the evidences to ascribe this relaxation to the intrinsic mechanism.

Graphical abstractSEM images of CCTO thin films annealed at a) 600, b) 700, c) 800 and d) 900 oC.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide