Abstract
Nanocrystalline lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO) films have been successfully synthesized by a wet-chemical route, using dried lanthanum acetate, zirconium propoxide, propoionic acid, acetic acid glacial, and anhydrous methanol. X-ray 28-scan diffraction patterns of the LZO film deposited on the Ni/W substrate displayed only the (400) peak. X-ray ω-scan diffraction data showed that the LZO films exhibited out-of-plane alignment along 〈400〉. Field emission gun scanning electron microscope images have indicated that LZO films are composed of nanoparticles with an average size of about 25 nm. The Taguchi Design has been employed to examine the effects of composition and solution chemistry of the precursors in the synthesis of LZO. The optimum experimental conditions have been evaluated as: 0.7±0.5 for the ratio of the lanthanum acetate to the propionic acid, 0.08±0.02 mol/kg for the precursor concentration, and 850±10°C for the heating process using 5±1°C per minute.