Abstract
The growth mechanism and surface microstructures of epitaxial YBa 2Cu3O7-x films are extremely sensitive to substrate miscut angle. The screw dislocation-mediated growth that is so prominent in YBa2Cu3O7-x films grown on well-aligned (001) substrates can be completely eliminated by growing YBa 2Cu3O7-x on a substrate that is miscut only 2°-3°away from (001). Films grown on miscut near-(001) LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 substrates consist of overlapping tilted platelets, one c-axis unit cell thick, that are epitaxially aligned with the underlying crystal lattice. This morphology, and the absence of screw-growth features, persists even in relatively thick (∼200 nm) films. The dominance of miscut-aligned growth is explained by the large number of surface steps that act as both nucleation and rapid-growth sites on a miscut surface.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 852-854 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1992 |
Externally published | Yes |