Crystal growth of epitaxially grown PbTiO3 thin films on miscut SrTiO3 substrate

Thin films of (001)PbTiO3 (PT), 5-260 nm thickness, were grown by sputterin g on miscut (001)SrTiO3 (ST) substrate with miscut angle of 1.7 degrees at 600 degrees C. Although the sputtered PT thin films were deformed by the tw o dimensional compressive force due to the small lattice of ST substrate an d showed large tetragonality of c/a = 1.1 at RT, i.e. c/a = 1.06 for bulk P T, the PT thin films showed a single domain-single crystal perovskite struc ture through a large area with extremely smooth surface on an atomic-scale. The film growth was governed by a step-flow model showing a layer growth. it was found that the layer growth was stable at low oxygen partial pressur e during the sputtering deposition. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.