Nanomechanical and microwave dielectric properties of SrBi < inf > 4 < /inf > Ti < inf > 4 < /inf > O < inf > 15 < /inf > thin films sputtered on amorphous substrates by rf sputtering

Abstract

SBTi (SrBi4Ti4O15) thin films were prepared on amorphous fused silica substrates by rf magnetron sputtering technique and crystallized in a microwave oven and conventional furnace. The difference in crystalline perfection was observed for both conventional and microwave annealed films. Nanoindentation and nanoscratch test were preformed to extract the mechanical properties of the films. Microwave annealed films exhibited higher hardness (6.2 GPa), Young's modulus (103 GPa) and low friction coefficient than conventional annealed films. Microwave dielectric properties are measured at 10 and 20 GHz using spilt post dielectric resonator technique. Microwave annealed films have shown good microwave dielectric properties even at high temperatures by controlling the Bi volatization. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.