Heteroepitaxial growth of LiTaO₃ thin films by pyrosol process

Abstract Highly oriented LiTaO3 thin films were grown on (001) sapphire substrates by pyrosol process. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the LiTaO3 crystallite c-axis is normal to the sapphire substrate. X-ray pole figures reveal that the films are also in-plane oriented, with two components of heteroepitaxy, the main one being stabilized with the (110) axes of the layer parallel to the [110] direction of the substrate. Texture components are quantified.