Suppression of the spiral-growth mechanism in epitaxial YBa 2Cu3O7-x films grown on miscut substrates

Douglas H. Lowndes, X. Y. Zheng, Shen Zhu, J. D. Budai, R. J. Warmack

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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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)852-854
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume61
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 1992
Externally publishedYes

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