Epitaxially Grown LaSrCoO3 Thin Films on Various Substrates by the Sol-Gel Method

LaSrCoO3 thin films have been prepared on various substrates by the sol-gel method using inorganic salts as starting materials. The crystallinity and in-plane alignment of the films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction θ-2θ scans and β scans (pole-figure analysis), respectively. Highly (h00)/(00l)-oriented LaSrCoO3 films with crack-free surfaces were obtained by annealing at 800°C on SrTiO3(100), while films grown on MgO(100) and Si(100) exhibited poor crystallinity. According to the X-ray diffraction θ-2θ scan, crystallinity of the product films was found to depend on lattice-misfit values between the films and the substrates used. On the contrary, the lattice-misfit values were less effective to the epitaxy of the LSCO film. Epitaxial film grown on SrTiO3 annealed at 800°C was found by reciprocal-space mapping (ω-2θ scan) analysis to consist of the pseudocubic phase.