Pulsed Laser Deposition of epitaxial titanium diboride thin films

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful fabrication of epitaxial titanium diboride thin films on sapphire using pulsed laser deposition, with detailed structural and electrical characterization indicating good crystallinity and high-temperature stability.

Contribution

It introduces a method for growing epitaxial TiB2 films via pulsed laser ablation and characterizes their structural and electrical properties.

Findings

Good crystallographic orientation of TiB2 films

Films are stable at high temperatures

Electrical resistivity is higher than single crystals

Abstract

Epitaxial titanium diboride thin films have been deposited on sapphire substrates by Pulsed Laser Ablation technique. Structural properties of the films have been studied during the growth by Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) and ex-situ by means of X-ray diffraction techniques; both kinds of measurements indicate a good crystallographic orientation of the TiB2 film both in plane and along the c axis. A flat surface has been observed by Atomic Force Microscopy imaging. Electrical resistivity at room temperature resulted to be five times higher than the value reported for single crystals. The films resulted to be also very stable at high temperature, which is very promising for using this material as a buffer layer in the growth of magnesium diboride thin films.