Growth and surface analysis of BaTiO3 ultrathin film fabricated by laser molecular beam epitaxy

The ferroelectric BaTiO3(001) ultrathin film (10 nm) was grown epitaxially on SrTiO3(001) substrate by laser molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The growth process of the BaTiO3 thin film was characterized by in situ intensity osci llation of reflection high energy electron diffraction, showing a unit cell layer-by-layer growth mode. The atomically smooth surface of BaTiO3 film h as been observed by atomic force microscopy with a root mean square surface roughness of 0.2 nm. The top-most surface for the high c-oriented BaTiO3 t hin film was analyzed by angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (A RXPS), indicating the BaTiO3 film is predominantly terminated with TiO2 ato mic plane. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.