Tailoring Preferential Orientation in BaTiO3-based Thin Films from Aqueous Chemical Solution Deposition

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Mari-Ann Einarsrud at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway). The cover picture shows ourin-situX-ray diffraction setup for analysing the crystallization process in oxide thin films made by chemical solution deposition. By adjusting the process parameters, the nucleation and growth conditions are changed and the degree of preferred orientation and epitaxi in the oxide films can be tailored. This change is illustrated by the change in microstructure of the polycrystalline films with random orientation (left) towards highly oriented cube-on-cube grown films (right) where the film unit cell follows that of the substrate. This effect can be observed experimentally by the appearance of spot reflection instead of full diffraction rings on the detector. Read the full text of their Full Paper at 10.1002/cmtd.202100064.