Selective growth of perovskite oxides on SrTiO3 (001) by control of surface reconstructions

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that surface reconstructions on SrTiO3 (001) significantly influence the epitaxial growth of SrTiO3 and SrVO3, with certain reconstructions preventing layer-by-layer growth due to structural dissimilarities.

Contribution

It reveals how specific surface reconstructions control selective epitaxial growth of perovskite oxides on SrTiO3 (001) surfaces.

Findings

Epitaxial growth is inhibited on c(6x2) reconstructed surfaces.

Surface reconstruction affects nucleation and island formation.

Structural dissimilarity explains growth selectivity.

Abstract

We report surface reconstruction (RC)-dependent growths of SrTiO3 and SrVO3 on a SrTiO3 (001) surface with two different coexisting surface RCs, namely (2x1) and c(6x2). Up to the coverage of several layers, epitaxial growth was forbidden on the c(6x2) RC under the growth conditions that permitted layer-by-layer epitaxial growth on the (2x1) RC. Scanning tunneling microscopy examination of the lattice structure of the c(6x2) RC revealed that this RC-selective growth mainly originated from the significant structural/stoichiometric dissimilarity between the c(6x2) RC and the cubic perovskite films. As a result, the formation of SrTiO3 islands was forbidden from the nucleation stage.