Dielectric, ferroelectric, and photoluminescent properties of Sm-doped Bi4Ti3O12 thin films synthesized by sol-gel method

We report on the structure, dielectric, ferroelectric, and photoluminescent properties of Sm3+-doped Bi4Ti3O2 thin films which were prepared on fused silica and Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by sol-gel method. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the Bi4-xSmxTi3O12 (BSmT) thin films were well crystallized in layered perovskite structure without any secondary phase. Raman spectra indicated that the structure of BSmT thin films was significantly distorted because of the Sm3+ doping. An appropriate doping amount of Sm3+ ions leads to obvious enhancement in ferroelectric and dielectric properties of BSmT thin films due to structure distortion and reduction in defects. In addition, the BSmT thin films also show orange-red color emission at 601 nm and long florescence lifetime (> 0.6 ms). This study indicated that lead-free BSmT thin films, which are featuring good electrical and photoluminescent properties, may have potential applications in integrated optoelectronic devices.