Preparation of high dielectric constant thin films of CaCu3Ti4O12 by sol-gel

Preparation of sol-gel derived CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) thin films using two different sols and their characterization including their dielectric response are reported. The properties of CCTO films depend heavily on solvents used to prepare the sols. Dielectric constant as high as similar to 900 at 100 kHz could be obtained when acetic acid was used to prepare the sol; in contrast, use of hexanoic acid in the sol yielded films with a much lower dielectric constant. The variation in grain and grain boundary conductivities with temperature has been measured. Activation energies of 0.08 eV and 0.68 eV have been found for grain and grain boundary conduction, respectively.