Misfit Strain Accommodation in Epitaxial ABO3 Perovskites: Lattice Rotations and Lattice Modulations

We present a study of the lattice response to the compressive and tensile biaxial stress in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) and SrRuO3 (SRO) thin films grown on a variety of single crystal substrates: SrTiO3, DyScO3, NdGaO3 and (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3. The results show, that in thin films under misfit strain, both SRO and LSMO lattices, which in bulk form have orthorhombic (SRO) and rhombohedral (LSMO) structures, assume unit cells that are monoclinic under compressive stress and tetragonal under tensile stress. The applied stress effectively modifies the BO6 octahedra rotations, which degree and direction can be controlled by magnitude and sign of the misfit strain. Such lattice distortions change the B-O-B bond angles and therefore are expected to affect magnetic and electronic properties of the ABO3 perovskites.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. B 13 pages, 9 figure

Optimized fabrication of high quality La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 thin films considering all essential characteristics

In this article, an overview of the fabrication and properties of high quality La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) thin films is given. A high quality LSMO film combines a smooth surface morphology with a large magnetization and a small residual resistivity, while avoiding precipitates and surface segregation. In literature, typically only a few of these issues are adressed. We therefore present a thorough characterization of our films, which were grown by pulsed laser deposition. The films were characterized with reflection high energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, magnetization and transport measurements, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The films have a saturation magnetization of 4.0 {\mu}B/Mn, a Curie temperature of 350 K and a residual resistivity of 60 {\mu}{\Omega}cm. These results indicate that high quality films, combining both large magnetization and small residual resistivity, were realized. A comparison between different samples presented in literature shows that focussing on a single property is insufficient for the optimization of the deposition process. For high quality films, all properties have to be adressed. For LSMO devices, the thin film quality is crucial for the device performance. Therefore, this research is important for the application of LSMO in devices.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics D - Applied Physic

Towards Oxide Electronics:a Roadmap

At the end of a rush lasting over half a century, in which CMOS technology has been experiencing a constant and breathtaking increase of device speed and density, Moore's law is approaching the insurmountable barrier given by the ultimate atomic nature of matter. A major challenge for 21st century scientists is finding novel strategies, concepts and materials for replacing silicon-based CMOS semiconductor technologies and guaranteeing a continued and steady technological progress in next decades. Among the materials classes candidate to contribute to this momentous challenge, oxide films and heterostructures are a particularly appealing hunting ground. The vastity, intended in pure chemical terms, of this class of compounds, the complexity of their correlated behaviour, and the wealth of functional properties they display, has already made these systems the subject of choice, worldwide, of a strongly networked, dynamic and interdisciplinary research community. Oxide science and technology has been the target of a wide four-year project, named Towards Oxide-Based Electronics (TO-BE), that has been recently running in Europe and has involved as participants several hundred scientists from 29 EU countries. In this review and perspective paper, published as a final deliverable of the TO-BE Action, the opportunities of oxides as future electronic materials for Information and Communication Technologies ICT and Energy are discussed. The paper is organized as a set of contributions, all selected and ordered as individual building blocks of a wider general scheme. After a brief preface by the editors and an introductory contribution, two sections follow. The first is mainly devoted to providing a perspective on the latest theoretical and experimental methods that are employed to investigate oxides and to produce oxide-based films, heterostructures and devices. In the second, all contributions are dedicated to different specific fields of applications of oxide thin films and heterostructures, in sectors as data storage and computing, optics and plasmonics, magnonics, energy conversion and harvesting, and power electronics

Chemical vapour deposition synthetic diamond: materials, technology and applications

Substantial developments have been achieved in the synthesis of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond in recent years, providing engineers and designers with access to a large range of new diamond materials. CVD diamond has a number of outstanding material properties that can enable exceptional performance in applications as diverse as medical diagnostics, water treatment, radiation detection, high power electronics, consumer audio, magnetometry and novel lasers. Often the material is synthesized in planar form, however non-planar geometries are also possible and enable a number of key applications. This article reviews the material properties and characteristics of single crystal and polycrystalline CVD diamond, and how these can be utilized, focusing particularly on optics, electronics and electrochemistry. It also summarizes how CVD diamond can be tailored for specific applications, based on the ability to synthesize a consistent and engineered high performance product.Comment: 51 pages, 16 figure

Fabrication of piezodriven, free-standing, all-oxide heteroepitaxial cantilevers on silicon

We report on the fabrication and mechanical properties of all-oxide, free-standing, heteroepitaxial, piezoelectric, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) on silicon, using PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 as the key functional material. The fabrication was enabled by the development of an epitaxial lift-off strategy for the patterning of multilayer oxide heterostructures grown on Si(001), employing a high temperature stable, sacrificial oxide template mask to obtain freestanding cantilever MEMS devices after substrate etching. All cantilevers, with lengths in the range 25–325 μm, width 50 μm, and total thickness of 300 nm, can be actuated by an external AC-bias. For lengths 50–125 μm, the second order bending mode formed the dominant resonance, whereas for the other lengths different or multiple modes were present

Effect of a thin (doped) PZT interfacial layer on the properties of epitaxial PMN-PT films

Pure perovskite phase, (001)-oriented, epitaxial thin films of (Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3)0.67-(PbTiO3)0.33 (PMN-PT) were fabricated on single crystal, (001)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates using a hard (Fe-doped) and soft doped (Nb-doped) PZT(52/48) interfacial layer. The effect of different interface layers on the structural and ferroelectric properties of the PMN-PT films was investigated in detail. A significant self-bias voltage in the PMN-PT films can be introduced by using an appropriate interfacial layer. There are significant differences in polarization for different types of doped and undoped interface layers and a doubling of the relative dielectric constant was observed for the Nb-doped interfacial layer. Device properties remain stable up to at least 108 cycles

Numerical modeling of the plasma plume propagation and oxidation during pulsed laser deposition of complex oxide thin films

Pulsed laser deposition is widely used to synthesize complex oxide thin films with advanced functional properties because of the versatility of the process, although the actual processes and mechanisms that take place are highly dynamic and nontrivial. Detailed understanding of the plume dynamics is required to achieve enhanced control of the growth of complex oxide thin films. However, analytical models of the plasma plume proposed in previous studies, the so-called shockwave model, drag model, and adiabatic thermalization model, only apply to a specific pressure regime and only focus on the propagation of the plasma front. Numerical modeling of the plasma dynamics has previously been pursued for the one-dimensional propagation of a Si plasma plume in a noble background gas. Here we have explored a more generalized numerical model for the dynamics of a TiO2 plasma plume by extending to three dimensions, multiple elements in the plasma plume, and including chemical reactions in an oxygen environment without the use of adaptive parameters, other than used for the description of the initial plume shape. Comparison between the simulations and the self-emission measurements of the TiO2 plasma plume shows good agreement. Our model enables detailed simulation of the oxidation state of the arriving particles (Ti, TiO, and TiO2) on the substrate surface depending on oxygen background pressure. Interestingly, low pressures of about 0.02 mbar result in fast oxygen particles arriving prior to the slower titanium particles, which could significantly influence the oxidation state of the initial substrate surface. The enhanced number of collisions for higher pressures of about 0.1 mbar leads to a large amount of the low-mass oxygen particles coming to a standstill 1-2 cm away from the ablated target. Furthermore, the three-dimensional nature of our model has enabled simulation of the lateral variations in composition of the deposited particles on the substrate surface. Although negligible variations in the Ti:TiO and Ti:TiO2 ratios are present for high pressures over deposition areas with diameters up to 5 cm, significant variations can be observed for low pressures. These insights could play an important role in upscaling pulsed laser deposition from a scientific laboratory-based scale to an industrial large-area scale