Chemical solution approach to SrTiO ₃ synthesis using a new precursor

We have synthesized SrTiO ₃ (STO) using a newly developed precursor route by chemical solution approach. The new STO precursor solution was prepared in ambient atmosphere. Various characteristic methods, including thermal analyses, infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopic analyses techniques, were applied to study the thermal decomposition and crystallization behavior of STO precursor gel. The acquirement of single-phase STO powders at the different annealing atmospheres demonstrates that STO with perovskite structure is prone to tolerate the oxygen vacancies defect. Epitaxially grown STO film on textured Ni-W substrate by a seeded nucleation method shows a high c-axis orientation and a good out-of-plane texture. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy investigations of STO film reveal the continuous, crack-free, and smooth surface morphology. The results suggest that STO film fabricated by the newly developed precursor route may be suitable to be used as buffer layer for subsequent growth of YBCO in coated conductors.