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Growth of nanoscale BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices by molecular-beam epitaxy

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Abstract

Commensurate BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices were grown by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy on four different substrates: TiO2-terminated (001) SrTiO3, (101) DyScO3, (101) GdScO3, and (101) SmScO3. With the aid of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), precise single-monolayer doses of BaO, SrO, and TiO2 were deposited sequentially to create commensurate BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices with a variety of periodicities. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements exhibit clear superlattice peaks at the expected positions. The rocking curve full width half-maximum of the superlattices was as narrow as 7 arc s (0.002°). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals nearly atomically abrupt interfaces. Temperature-dependent ultraviolet Raman and XRD were used to reveal the paraelectric-to-ferroelectric transition temperature (TC). Our results demonstrate the importance of finite size and strain effects on the TC of BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices. In addition to probing finite size and strain effects, these heterostructures may be relevant for novel phonon devices, including mirrors, filters, and cavities for coherent phonon generation and control.

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Acknowlegments

We gratefully acknowledge D.H.A. Blank for informing us of his termination method for (101) DyScO3 substrates. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grants N00014-03-1-0721 (D.G. Schlom), N00014-04-1-0426 (D.G. Schlom), and N00014-05-1-0559 (C.B. Eom) monitored by Dr. Colin Wood; by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grants DMR-0507146 (D.G. Schlom, L.Q. Chen, X.Q. Pan, C.B. Eom, and X.X. Xi), DMR-0705127 (D.A. Tenne), DMR-0122638 (L.Q. Chen), DMR-0213623 (L.Q. Chen), DMR-0313764 (C.B. Eom), ECS-0210449 (C.B. Eom), and DMR-0315633 (X.Q. Pan); by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) under Grant DE-FG02-01ER45907 (X.X. Xi); Research corporation under Grant No. 7134 (D.A. Tenne); by a Guggenheim fellowship (L.Q. Chen); and by NASA under Grant NASA3-NCC1034 (R.S.K).

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Author notes

  1. W. Tian & V. Vaithyanathan

    Present address: Seagate Technology, Bloomington, MN, 55437, USA

  2. J.H. Haeni

    Present address: USAID, Washington, DC, 20523, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802-5005, USA

    A. Soukiassian, W. Tian, V. Vaithyanathan, J.H. Haeni, L.Q. Chen, X.X. Xi & D.G. Schlom

  2. Department of Physics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, 83725, USA

    D.A. Tenne

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    H.P. Sun & X.Q. Pan

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    K.J. Choi & C.B. Eom

  5. Materials Science and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA

    Y.L. Li & Q.X. Jia

  6. Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, USA

    C. Constantin & R.M. Feenstra

  7. Institute for Crystal Growth, Max-Born-Straße 2, D-12489, Berlin, Germany

    M. Bernhagen, P. Reiche & R. Uecker

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  1. A. Soukiassian
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Soukiassian, A., Tian, W., Vaithyanathan, V. et al. Growth of nanoscale BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices by molecular-beam epitaxy. Journal of Materials Research 23, 1417–1432 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0181

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