Preparation of doped LaGaO3 films by pulsed laser deposition

Doped LaGaO₃ oxide is considered to be a promising candidate for an electrolyte in intermediate temperature operating solid oxide fuel cell. Doped LaGaO₃ films, with the composition La_1-xSr_xGa_1-yMg_y O_3-(x+y)/2 was prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique. The dynamics of the plasma plume during the film deposition was investigated. The estimated velocity of the plume head was in the range of (0.5-1.5) × 10⁴ m/s depending on ambient pressures. The films deposited on the NiO substrate consisted of many particles and crystalline structure of LaGaO₃ was obtained for post annealed films at 1000 °C for 6 h. A slight difference in stoichiometry between the target and the film was found by secondary ion mass spectroscopy.