Sol-gel synthesis of LaAlO{sub 3}; epitaxial growth of LaAlO{sub 3} thin films on SrTiO{sub 3} (100)

A LaAlO{sub 3} precursor solution was prepared via an all alkoxide sol-gel route. The solution of lanthanum methoxyethoxide and aluminum methoxyethoxide in 2-methoxyethanol was prepared via ligand exchange starting from lanthanum isopropoxide and aluminum sec-butoxide and was used to make both LaAlO{sub 3} powders and films. Complete hydrolysis of the solution formed a gel that yielded well-crystallized LaAlO{sub 3} powders when fired in air at 800{degree}C. A partially hydrolyzed solution was spun-cast on SrTiO{sub 3} (100) single crystal substrates. Epitaxial films of LaAlO{sub 3} were subsequently formed during pyrolysis in O{sub 2} at 800{degree}C in a rapid thermal annealing furnace for a total of 8 min. The films were strongly c-axis oriented, verified by x-ray rocking curve results from the (003) plane with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM)=0.87{degree}, and had good in-plane texture shown by a {phi} scan of the (202) plane with FWHM=1.07{degree}. {copyright} {ital 1997 Materials Research Society.}