1. Nanoscale chemical etching of near-stoichiometric lithium tantalate.
- Author
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Liu, Xiaoyan, Terabe, Kazuya, Nakamura, Masaru, Takekawa, Shunji, and Kitamura, Kenji
- Subjects
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SCANNING force microscopy , *LITHIUM tantalate , *TANTALUM , *STOICHIOMETRY , *PHYSICAL & theoretical chemistry , *MICROSCOPY - Abstract
The chemical etching properties of ferroelectric LiTaO3 crystal in near-stoichiometric compositions were quantitatively investigated with various ratios of HF and HNO3 acid mixtures by scanning force microscopy in the nanoscale range. Along with congruent LiTaO3 crystal, the -Z surfaces of near-stoichiometric LiTaO3 crystal were etched preferentially with pure HF acid and mixtures of HF and HNO3 acids. The etching rates on the -Z surface of near-stoichiometric LiTaO3 crystal were slower than that of congruent LiTaO3 crystal. The roughness (peak to peak) of etched surfaces were about 2 nm after being etched in all ratios of HF and HNO3 acids to a 70-nm etch depth. The temperature dependence of the etch rate followed the Arrhenius law. By taking advantage of the chemical preferential etching properties, precision surface structures could be fabricated on near-stoichiometric LiTaO3 crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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