Epitaxial titanium diboride thin films have been deposited on sapphire substrates by Pulsed Laser Ablation technique. Structural properties of the films have been studied during the growth by Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) and ex-situ by means of X-ray diffraction techniques; both kinds of measurements indicate a good crystallographic orientation of the TiB2 film both in plane and along the c axis. A flat surface has been observed by Atomic Force Microscopy imaging. Electrical resistivity at room temperature resulted to be five times higher than the value reported for single crystals. The films resulted to be also very stable at high temperature, which is very promising for using this material as a buffer layer in the growth of magnesium diboride thin films.
Pulsed laser deposition, a non-equilibrium thin-film growth technique, was used to stabilize metastable tetragonal iron sulfide (FeS), the bulk state of which is known as a superconductor with a critical temperature of 4 K. Comprehensive experiments revealed four important factors to stabilize tetragonal FeS epitaxial thin films: (i) an optimum growth temperature of 300 {deg}C followed by thermal quenching, (ii) an optimum growth rate of ~7 nm/min, (iii) use of a high-purity bulk target, and (iv) use of a single-crystal substrate with small in-plane lattice mismatch (CaF2). Electrical resistivity measurements indicated that none of all the films exhibited superconductivity. Although an electric double-layer transistor structure was fabricated using the tetragonal FeS epitaxial film as a channel layer to achieve high-density carrier doping, no phase transition was observed. Possible reasons for the lack of superconductivity include lattice strain, off-stoichiometry of the film, electrochemical etching by the ionic liquid under gate bias, and surface degradation during device fabrication.
Control of thin film stoichiometry is of primary relevance to achieve desired functionality. Pulsed laser deposition ablating from binary-oxide targets (sequential deposition) can be applied to precisely control the film composition, offsetting the importance of growth conditions on the film stoichiometry. In this work, we demonstrate that the cation stoichiometry of SrTiO$_3$ thin films can be finely tuned by sequential deposition from SrO and TiO$_2$ targets. Homoepitaxial SrTiO$_3$ films were deposited at different substrate temperatures and Ti/Sr pulse ratios, allowing the establishment of a growth window for stoichiometric SrTiO$_3$. The growth kinetics and nucleation processes were studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy, providing information about the growth mode and the degree of off-stoichiometry. At the optimal (stoichiometric) growth conditions, films exhibit atomically flat surfaces, whereas off-stoichiometry is accommodated by crystal defects, 3D islands and/or surface precipitates depending on the substrate temperature and the excess cation. This technique opens the way to precisely control stoichiometry and doping of oxide thin films.
We present results on growth of large area epitaxial ReS2 thin film both on c plane sapphire substrate and MoS2 template by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Films tend to grow with (0001) ReS2 perpendicular to (0001) Al2O3 and (0001) ReS2 perpendicular to (0001) MoS2 parallel to (0001) Al2O3 at deposition temperature below 300 deg C. Films are polycrystalline grown at temperature above 300 deg C. The smoothness and quality of the films are significantly improved when grown on MoS2 template compared to sapphire substrate. The results show that PLD is suitable to grow ReS2 epitaxial thin film over large area for practical device application.
Pulsed-laser deposition has been used to grow epitaxial thin films of the giant-dielectric-constant material CaCu_3Ti_4O_{12} on LaAlO_3 and SrTiO_3 substrates with or without various conducting buffer layers. The latter include YBa_2Cu_3O_7, La_{1.85}Sr_{0.15}CuO_{4+delta} and LaNiO_3. Above 100K - 150K the thin films have a temperature independent dielectric constant as do single crystals. The value of the dielectric constant is of the order of 1500 over a wide temperature region, potentially making it a good candidate for many applications. The frequency dependence of its dielectric properties below 100K - 150K indicates an activated relaxation process.
Thin films of the misfit cobaltite Ca3Co4O9 were grown on (0001)-oriented (c-cut) sapphire substrates, using the pulsed-laser deposition techniques. The dependence of the thermoelectric/transport properties on the film growth conditions was investigated