Preparation and characterization of Ce-doped BaTiO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Thin films of BaTiO3 doped with 5.5 mol%CeO2 have been deposited on Pt/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition. These films crystallize on the tetragonal BaTiO3 structure without any preferential orientation. Ce-doped BaTiO3 films deposited by PLD at 675°C in 30 Pa ambient oxygen exhibits a smooth surface: mean surface roughness (Rms) of 48 nm, mean size of grain of ∼40 Å, average size of aggregates of ∼315 nm. Thin films as prepared presented good dielectric characteristics: dielectric constant and dielectrics loss (tan δ) at a frequency of 1 KHz were 220 and 0.2, respectively. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant exhibited a diffuse ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition at about 0–10°C. The ferroelectric nature of Ce-doped BaTiO3 film was confirmed by the hysteresis of the C-V curves.