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Surface evolution of strained SrRuO3 films deposited at various temperatures on SrTiO3 (001) substrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2006

Sang Ho Oh  and
Chan Gyung Park
Sang Ho Oh*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea; and Erich Schmid Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
Chan Gyung Park
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: shoh@mf.mpg.de
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Abstract

Surface evolution was studied for strained SrRuO3 films with a nominal 75 nm thickness deposited at various substrate temperatures (650–850 °C). Epitaxial growth of the films was achieved on single TiO2-terminated SrTiO3 (001) substrates by using ion-beam sputtering. The surface morphology of the deposited films was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy in ambient conditions, and their microstructure was characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The self-organized step-terrace structure was observed for the films deposited at lower than 800 °C, suggesting that the epitaxial growth proceeded by step-flow growth. In particular, each film showed characteristic surface evolutions pertinent to the misfit strain relaxation stage, mostly influenced by the moving segment of misfit dislocations threading up to the surface: surface undulations for the film at the initial stage of relaxation (deposited at 650 °C), circular growth spirals during the relaxation stage (700 °C), and well-ordered step-terrace structure after almost full development of misfit dislocations (750 and 800 °C).

Keywords

EpitaxyOxideSputtering
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , June 2006 , pp. 1550 - 1560
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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