Transparent and conductive oxide films of the perovskite LaxSr1−xSnO3 (x ≤ 0.15): epitaxial growth and application for transparent heterostructures

Transparent and conductive oxide (TCO) films with a cubic perovskite structure, lanthanum-doped strontium stannate LaxSr1-xSnO3 (x = 0--0.15) (LSSO), have been grown epitaxially on SrTiO3(0 0 1) substrates by the pulsed laser deposition method. The doping concentration and growth parameters were optimized based on the high-resolution x-ray diffraction and electric transport measurements. We found that the optimum doping level is around x = 0.07, and the epitaxial films can be grown at temperatures as low as 600 degree C and in atmospheres compatible with many other perovskite oxide films. They are n-type TCO films, showing high optical transmittance in the visible range with a direct allowed band gap of 4.65 eV, and a weak metallic transport behaviour with a low resistivity of ~4.0 m Delta *W cm within 10--300 K. Due to a very close lattice match with the ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) and multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO), all-perovskite LSSO(Pt)PZT(BFO)/LSSO capacitors and p-PZT(