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Lithium Niobate Sputtering Targets and Applications


Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) Sputtering Targets (Size:1'' ,Thickness:0.250'' , Purity: 99.9%) which has the chemical formula of LiNbO3 is a compound of niobium, lithium, and oxygen. Its single crystals are an important material for optical waveguides, mobile phones, piezoelectric sensors, optical modulators and various other linear and non-linear optical applications. It is a human-made dielectric material that does not exist in nature.
Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) Sputtering Targets crystals were grown for the first time by the Chokhralsky method in 1965, and their structure was investigated by Abrahams in the series of works. Lithium niobate belongs to a R3c space group, where the oxygens are arranged in nearly hexagonal close-packed planar sheets. 
One of the potential applications of Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) Sputtering Targets as an elemental basis of electro-optical devices is high speed (>20 GHz) modulators. Thin lithium niobate films contrary to bulk material, provide higher intensity per unit power in waveguides, and hence a stronger nonlinear optical effect and shorter interaction length. The ability to fabricate the films on various substrates extends the spectrum of their possible applications.
Here the important thing is to choose an appropriate synthesis method of thin lithium niobate films to lean on its possibility to preserve the elemental composition and structure of a bulk material, and also on the reproductive ability of this technique. Various fabrication methods have been proposed to satisfy these conditions, namely sol–gel, pulsed-laser deposition (PLD), discrete thermal evaporation in vacuum, radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), liquid phase epitaxy (LPE), ion-beam sputtering (IBS).
For example radio frequency magnetron sputtering is one of the options to obtain lithium niobate thin films. Radio frequency magnetron sputtering has these advantages:
  • lower reactive gas pressure, providing the appropriate free path length for ion motion in the space charge area;
  • ability to regulate the ion energy in a wide range through magnetic field at the constant source power;
  • high rate of sputtering;
  • independence of the sputtering coefficients of a material on its melting point;
  • reproducibility of elemental composition of a sputtered material.

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