Rapid Fabrication of Chemical Solution-Deposited Lanthanum Nickelate Thin Films via Intense Pulsed-Light Process

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of the flash light-sintering method to fabricate the ceramic material perovskite structure for lanthanum nickel oxide (LaNiO3; LNO) thin films using flash light irradiation equipment. LNO thin films are deposited on an Si wafer and Al2O3 substrate via the chemical solution deposition (CSD) method and sintered by a thermal and flash light-irradiation process with a bottom heater. The properties of flash light-sintered LNO thin films are compared with those of thermally sintered films. The surface morphology, crystal development, and electric conductivity of the LNO thin films are measured by field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and a four-point probe, respectively. Flash light sintering was accomplished in milliseconds. Through the comparison of thermal sintering and flash light-sintering results, it was confirmed that perovskite LNO thin films deposited by the CSD method can be fabricated by flash light sintering. We show that the flash light sintering method can solve several inherent issues of the conventional thermal sintering method.

Control of Columnar Grain Microstructure in CSD LaNiO3 Films

“… Electrical resistivity of LNO with various internal structures. Values of the resistivity marked with numbers 1–18 are taken from the following references: 1—[ 88 ], 2—[ 89 ], 3—[ 28 ], 4—[ 92 ], 5—[ 30 ], 6—[ 20 ], 7—[ 90 ], 8—[ 30 ], 9—[ 90 ], 10—[ 29 ], 11—[ 27 ], 12—[ 22 ], 13—[ 15 ], 14—[ 42 ], 15—[ 19 ], 16—[ 41 ], 17—[ 22 ], 18—[ 19 ]. …”

“…However, columnar grain growth in LNO films is challenging. Most of the authors who studied the CSD of LNO films on substrates of various structures reported films with a porous, polycrystalline structure and fine equiaxed grains [ 19 , 24 , 41 , 42 ]. The defective structure causes enhanced resistivity, and it is not optimal for growing on the ferroelectric perovskite layer or other functional heterostructures [ 22 ].…”

“…Columnar grain growth in CSD films is usually caused by heterogeneous nucleation at the film–substrate interface [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. For this reason, the main strategy of columnar grain growth in CSD films is a choice of the substrate with a close lattice constant or introducing an intermediate seeding layer whose structure decreases the Gibbs free energy Δ Gv at the interface [ 32 , 46 , 47 ].…”

A review on intense pulsed light process as post-treatment for metal oxide thin films and nanostructures for device application

“…This could be improved by adding a pretreatment process or a heater. IPL sintered perovskitestructured lanthanum nickel oxide (LaNiO 3 ; LNO) thin films was demonstrated [114]. To prove electrical properties of LNO IPL sintering, the authors performed the IPL process on plate-heater of 500 °C.…”

Large Negative Photoresistivity in Amorphous NdNiO3 Film

“…The end-member of the series LaNiO 3 (LNO) with a rhombohedral crystallographic structure exhibits the metallic conductivity at all temperatures. Low conductivity and superior catalytic properties make LNO attractive for use as functional sublayers in perovskite heterostructures [1]. Other nickelates with the orthorhombic structure display a sharp metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) from a hightemperature paramagnetic metal state to a low-temperature antiferromagnetic insulator.…”