Structural and optical properties of the Fe-doped BaTiO3 thin films grown on LaAlO3 by polymer-assisted deposition technique

Fe-doped BaTiO 3 thin films were grown on (001) oriented LaAlO 3 substrates using a polymer-assisted deposition technique. The microstructural and chemical state characters of the films with the Fe doping range from 1 to 10 at% were systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Evolution of the preferred orientation and strain status of BaTiO 3 films could be observed with increasing doping amount of Fe. Meanwhile, UV–Vis spectra of doped BaTiO 3 thin films showed that the band gap could be strongly affected by the doping amount of Fe with the smallest value at the Fe doping rate of 3 at%, which is proposed to be associated with the inevitable oxygen vacancies and the substitution of Ti ions by the Fe dopants.