Critical thickness of high structural quality SrTiO{sub 3} films grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO{sub 3}.
Strained epitaxial SrTiO{sub 3} films were grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO{sub 3} substrates by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy. The epitaxy of this substrate/film combination is cube on cube with a pseudocubic out-of-plane (001) orientation. The strain state and structural perfection of films with thicknesses ranging from 50 to 1000 {angstrom} were examined using x-ray scattering. The critical thickness at which misfit dislocations was introduced was between 350 and 500 {angstrom}. These films have the narrowest rocking curves (full width at half maximum) ever reported for any heteroepitaxial oxide film (0.0018{sup o}). Only a modest amount of relaxation is seen in films exceeding the critical thicknesses even after postdeposition annealing at 700 C in 1 atm of oxygen. The dependence of strain relaxation on crystallographic direction is attributed to the anisotropy of the substrate. These SrTiO{sub 3} films show structural quality more typical of semiconductors such as GaAs and silicon than perovskite materials; their structural relaxation behavior also shows similarity to that of compound semiconductor films.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); ONR
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 961713
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/MSD/JA-60644; JAPIAU; TRN: US200923%%169
- Journal Information:
- J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 104, Issue Dec. 1, 2008; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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