Optical and dielectric characteristics of the rare-earth metal oxide Lu2O3

The characteristics of the Lu 2 O 3 oxide and their variations controlled by compositional defects are studied. The defects are anion vacancies produced on partial reduction of the oxide. Such defects exhibit features typical of quantum objects and have a profound effect on the optical transmittance spectrum, the character of conduction (insulator or semiconductor properties) and the order of magnitude of the permittivity ɛ (capable of varying from 11.2 to 125). The structural features of vacancies in the oxides are considered, and the effect of vacancies on the polarization, conductivity, and lattice vibrations is studied. The studies are carried out in the temperature range 200–900 K, the wavelength range 0.03–50 μm, and the current frequency range 10 2 –10 5 Hz. The rare-earth metal oxides attract interest for applications in microelectronics due to their high permittivity (several times higher than the permittivity of SiO 2 ) and, hence, the prospects for use of these oxides instead of SiO 2 .