Abstract
Nd-substituted bismuth titanate (Bi 3.5 Nd 0.5 Ti 3 O 12 , BNdT) films were prepared on Pt electrodes using chemical solution deposition. Enhanced a-axis-oriented crystal growth occurred when the crystallization was performed on every spin-coated layer with sufficiently thin thickness (∼20nm). The remnant polarization (2P r ∼38μC/cm 2 ) of the film derived by such a layer-by-layer crystallization method was significantly higher than that of the film derived with the conventional process (2P r ∼10μC/cm 2 ). Examination of structural evolution has indicated that, owing to the geometrical effect, the growth of (1 1 7)-oriented crystals was restricted by the layer thickness, while the growth of a-axis-oriented crystals was not. As a result, BNdT films prepared by layer-by-layer crystallization are dominated by a-axis-oriented crystals and show high remnant polarization. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.