Cb. Eom et al., SINGLE-CRYSTAL THIN-FILMS OF CONDUCTIVE OXIDES SRRUO3 AND FERROELECTRIC HETEROSTRUCTURES, Integrated ferroelectrics (Print), 21(1-4), 1998, pp. 251-261
We have grown epitaxial thin films of the conductive oxide SrRuO3 with
well controlled surface morphology and domain structure using vicinal
(001) SrTiO3 substrates. Scanning tunneling microscopy and x-ray diff
raction show that the SrRuO3 thin films on miscut (001) SrTiO3 substra
tes with miscut angle > 2 degrees grow by step flow in one direction l
eading to single crystal films. In contrast, the SrRuO3 thin films on
exact (001) SrTiO3 substrates grow by two dimensional nucleation resul
ting in a two domain in-plane structure. The single crystal thin films
have been used as electrodes for the growth of epitaxial ferroelectri
c PbTiO3 and PZT layers. The PbTiO3/SrRuO3 and PZT/SrRuO3 heterostruct
ures have high crystalline quality, coherent interfaces and a cube-on-
cube epitaxial growth with respect to the substrate. These epitaxial h
eterostructures have superior fatigue characteristics and look promisi
ng for the fabrication of integrated single crystal ferroelectric devi
ces.