Thin Film Substrates from the Raman spectroscopy point of view

We have investigated ten standard single crystal substrates of complex oxides on the account of their applicability in the Raman spectroscopy based thin film research. In this study we suggest a spectra normalization procedure that utilises a comparison of the substrate's Raman spectra to those of well-established Raman reference materials. We demonstrate that MgO, LaGaO$_{3}$, (LaAlO$_{3}$)$_{0.3}$(Sr$_{2}$AlTaO$_{6}$)$_{0.7}$ (LSAT), DyScO$_{3}$, YAlO$_{3}$, and LaAlO$_{3}$ can be of potential use for a Raman based thin film research. At the same time TiO$_{2}$ (rutile), NdGaO$_{3}$, SrLaAlO$_{4}$, and SrTiO$_{3}$ single crystals exhibit multiple phonon modes accompanied by strong Raman background that substantially hinder the Raman based thin film experiments.