Effect of the Nano-Sized BaTiO3 Gel Particles on Dielectric Properties of Thin Films

We synthesized nanocrystalline BaTiO3 particles by sol-gel process and made evaluations concerning their size and crystallinity with TEM, XRD and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The BaTiO3 particles were found to be composed of well-crystallized particles with sizes greater than 5 nm and poorly-crystallized (almost amorphous) particles smaller than 3 nm. We obtained BaTiO3 ceramic thin films of around 500 nm in thickness by spin coating using a suspension of the nanocrystalline particles, followed by firing at 800DGC. The quality of BaTiO3 films prepared was strongly dependent on the volume ratio of well-crystallized particles in the suspension. The film which obtained the highest quality, exhibited a capacitance of 530 nF/square cm (at 1 kHz).