Characterization of Sol Gel Prepared KTN Thin Films and Powders by Raman, XRD, and Thermal Analysis Techniques.

Abstract

The renewed interest in KTa_1-xNb_xO (KTN) mixed perovskite materials is connected with their remarkable dielectric properties in the dilute compositions. KTN thin films with x = 0.35 have been prepared on different substrates by sol-gel technique as well as a set of powders with x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.48, 0.65, 0.75, and 1. Properties of the material change drastically with the change of x, because of relaxation of both translational and inversion symmetry due to a static disorder in the Nb distribution and the dynamic effect of a precursor ferroelectric order above Tc. Special attention was paid to the characteristic feature of coupling of the single-phonon state to a two-acoustic-phonon feature through anharmonic terms in the potential function as well as behavior of the TO3 mode which becomes a narrow peak of the first-order scattering in the tetragonal ferroelectric phase and shows a tendency to split below Tc₂ in the orthorhombic phase. The wide range of x allows better understanding of dynamic processes in the KTN bulk materials which in turn helps in the studies of thin films. The above mentioned materials were studied using Raman scattering, XRD, and thermal analysis techniques.