DOMAIN-STRUCTURE OF EPITAXIAL SRRUO3 THIN-FILMS ON MISCUT (001)SRTIO3SUBSTRATES

The microstructure of epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films grown on vicinal (00 1) SrTiO3 substrates with miscut angle of 1.9 degrees and miscut direc tion of 12 degrees away from [100] direction was studied using transmi ssion electron microscopy (TEM). Cross-section as well as plan-view TE M studies revealed that these films are single domain with the in-plan e epitaxial orientation relationship of SrRuO3[001]//SrTiO3[010] and S rRuO3[(1) over bar 10]//SrTiO3[100]. This result is in contrast to the previous studies of the SrRuO3 thin films grown on exactly (001) SrTi O3, which are composed of two types of [110] domains with nearly the s ame volume fraction. The occurrence of these different domain structur es is attributed to the step-flow growth of the film on the substrate surface due to the miscut. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.