Ba0.25Sr0.75TiO3 thin-film varactors on SrRuO3 bottom electrode

Ba0.25Sr0.75TiO3/SrRuO3 (BSTO/SRO) thin-film varactors were fabricated on (001)LaAlO3 substrates and characterized at rf and microwave frequencies of up to 10 GHz in the temperature range of 50-300 K. X-ray analysis reveals epitaxial growth of (001)-oriented BSTO films with extended out-of-plane lattice parameter b=3.925 angstrom. The tensile out-of-plane strain (u(33)=0.3%) of BSTO films results in an out-of-plane component of the relative permittivity epsilon(33)=490. The renormalized Curie-Weiss constant and Curie temperature are C-33=8.0x10(4) K and T-33=140 K, respectively. An interfacial layer presumably forms at the Au/Pt top electrode with a thickness-to-relative permittivity ratio of d(i)/epsilon(i)=0.3-0.4 nm and reduces the apparent relative permittivity to epsilon(a)=250. The relative tunability of the varactor (at 10 V dc bias) increases from 40% (295 K) up to 80% (125 K) as the temperature decreases in the whole frequency range. The varactor loss tangent increases with increasing frequency and decreasing temperature (from tan delta=0.01 at 1 MHz and 295 K up to tan delta=1.7 at 10 GHz and 125 K, 0 V dc bias). The extrinsic loss of the BSTO film may be ascribed to charged defects associated with oxygen vacancies, at least in the temperature range of 150-300 K. This type of loss is mainly contributing to the total varactor loss balance in the frequency range of up to 500 MHz. At higher frequencies, the loss due to the SRO electrode series resistance starts to dominate. The commutation quality factor of the BSTO/SRO varactor is about 2000 at frequencies of up to 100 MHz and temperatures of less than 230 K, which is quite acceptable for practical applications. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.