Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films were epitaxially grown onto MgO vicinal substrates by pulsed-laser deposition and molecular-beam epitaxy. [001] oriented MgO substrates with 2° and 5° mis-cut toward [010] were selected. The nucleation of antiphase domain boundaries in the direction parallel to the step edges was greatly reduced in Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 films grown onto the vicinal substrates compared to the films grown onto flat substrates. The reduction in antiphase domain boundaries gave rise to a higher dielectric constant when the electrodes were parallel to the direction of the steps, by about 280–460, than in the perpendicular direction.

Suppression of Antiphase Domain Boundary Formation in Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 Films Grown on Vicinal MgO Substrates. H.Zheng, L.Salamanca-Riba, R.Ramesh, H.Li: Applied Physics Letters, 2004, 85[14], 2905-7