Improvement of laser molecular beam epitaxy grown SrTiO₃ thin film properties by temperature gradient modulation growth

Abstract

Oxygen diffusion at the SrTiO₃/Si interface was analyzed. A method called temperature gradient modulation growth was introduced to control oxygen diffusion at the interface of SrTiO₃/Si. Nanoscale multilayers were grown at different temperatures at the initial growing stage of films. Continuous growth of SrTiO₃ films was followed to deposit on the grown sacrificial layers. The interface and crystallinity of SrTiO₃/Si were investigated by in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction measurements. It has been shown that the modulated multilayers may help suppress the interfacial diffusion, and therefore improve SrTiO₃ thin film properties.