Stoichiometric growth of SrTiO3 films by sequential pulsed laser deposition from SrO and TiO2 targets

Abstract

We report the growth of stoichiometric SrTiO3 films by sequential pulsed laser deposition from SrO and TiO2 targets. In-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction is used to control the growth and achieve films with excellent structural quality. The growth shows similarities to the case of molecular beam epitaxy of SrTiO3 from Sr and Ti sources. In order to further demonstrate the capability of the approach, we grow artificial Srn+1TinO3n+1 Ruddlesden-Popper phases with n = 2 and 3. Our result has potential to be extendable to other perovskite-type oxides, enabling one to grow epitaxial films with improved structural quality and electronic functionality.