Stabilizing Ir(001) epitaxy on yttria-stabilized zirconia using a thin Ir seed layer grown by pulsed laser deposition

Lisha Fan, Christopher B. Jacobs, Christopher M. Rouleau, Gyula Eres

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We demonstrate the reproducible epitaxial growth of 100 nm thick Ir(001) films on a heteroepitaxial stack consisting of 5 nm Ir and 100 nm yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) grown on Si(001) substrates. It is shown that a 5 nm thick Ir layer grown by pulsed laser deposition in the same chamber as the YSZ film without breaking the vacuum is the key to stabilizing Ir(001) epitaxial growth. Growth of the Ir seed layer with pure (001) orientation occurs only in a narrow growth temperature window from 550 to 750 °C, and the fraction of Ir(111) increases at substrate temperatures outside of this window. The Ir seed layer prevents exposure of the YSZ film to air during sample transfer and enables highly reproducible Ir(001) heteroepitaxy on YSZ buffered Si(001). In contrast, if Ir is grown directly on a bare YSZ layer that was exposed to ambient conditions, the films are prone to change orientation to (111). These results reveal that preserving the chemical and structural purity of the YSZ surface is imperative for achieving Ir(001) epitaxy. The narrow range of the mosaic spread values from eight experiments demonstrates the high yield and high reproducibility of Ir(001) heteroepitaxy by this approach. The improved Ir(001) epitaxial growth method is of great significance for integrating a variety of technologically important materials such as diamond, graphene, and functional oxides on a Si platform.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)89-94
Number of pages6
JournalCrystal Growth and Design
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 4 2017

Funding

Research sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy. Research by G.E. sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Part of this research was performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.

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