Liquid phase epitaxial growth of perovskite (Bi,Na)TiO/sub 3/ and solid solutions on SrTiO/sub 3/ [001] substrates

Perovskite oxides of (Bi,Na)TiO/sub 3/ (BNT) and its solid solutions are possible substitutes for lead oxide based actuator materials. In this study, pure and doped BNT single crystals were grown on the [001] face of SrTiO/sub 3/ (ST) single crystal substrates in order to optimize the conditions for liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) growth. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated an epitaxial relationship between the grown NBT and ST substrates, with the a-axis of BNT (both tetragonal and rhombohedral) along a-axis of the ST substrates. Line broadening of the XRD pattern due to lattice mismatch was also observed. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that 90/spl deg/ domains were formed in the as-grown crystals. EDS mapping analyses indicated that interface between grown NBT and ST was compositionally sharp. After removing the substrates, electromechanical constants were evaluated.