GROWTH OF LANIO3 THIN-FILMS ON MGO BY FLASH MOCVD

LaNiO3 thin films on MgO were grown by flash MOCVD on single crystalli ne (0 0 1)MgO substrates using La(thd)(3), Ni(acim)(2) or Ni(thd)(2) ( acim and thd are anions of acetylacetonimine and dipivaloylmethane, re spectively) as volatile precursors. X-ray diffraction study of the fil ms with different thicknesses was used to clarify the growth peculiari ties. Two stages of growth were observed. At the beginning (0 0 1) ori ented LaNiO3 layer (pseudocubic indices) grows with uniform in-plane a lignment. Next, another orientation, namely (1 1 0), aligned in-plane with (0 0 1) layer appears as auxiliary one. In-plane matching variant s are discussed. Consistent explanation of the preferable in-plane ori entations observed was achieved with a nearly coincident sites lattice s (NCSL) analysis. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.