Influence of the growth mechanism and thermoelastic stresses on the lattice dynamics of heteroepitaxial films of barium strontium titanate

Heteroepitaxial thin films of Ba_0.7Sr_0.3TiO₃ (BST-0.3) solid solutions were grown on single-crystal (001) MgO substrates by high-frequency cathode sputtering of a stoichiometric ceramic target. The parameters of the tetragonal unit cell of a film were determined by x-ray diffraction methods, and the temperature dependence of the parameter c was studied depending on the synthesis conditions in the temperature range 293–520 K. An E(TO) soft mode was observed in the Raman spectra, the frequency of which correlates with two-dimensional stresses arising in films. It is shown that the two-dimensional stresses in a film are controlled not only by the film-substrate lattice constant mismatch and the difference of their thermal expansion coefficients but also are significantly dependent on the heteroepitaxial growth mechanism. It is shown that the phase transition to the tetragonal paraelectric phase during film heating occurs irrespective of the growth mechanism.