Domain structure of epitaxial SrRuO3SrRuO3 thin films on miscut (001) SrTiO3SrTiO3 substrates

The microstructure of epitaxial SrRuO3SrRuO3 thin films grown on vicinal (001) SrTiO3SrTiO3 substrates with miscut angle of 1.9° and miscut direction of 12° away from [100] direction was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cross-section as well as plan-view TEM studies revealed that these films are single domain with the in-plane epitaxial orientation relationship of SrRuO3[001]//SrTiO3[010]SrRuO3[001]//SrTiO3[010] and SrRuO3[10]//SrTiO3[100].SrRuO3[1̄10]//SrTiO3[100]. This result is in contrast to the previous studies of the SrRuO3SrRuO3 thin films grown on exactly (001) SrTiO3,SrTiO3, which are composed of two types of [110] domains with nearly the same volume fraction. The occurrence of these different domain structures is attributed to the step-flow growth of the film on the substrate surface due to the miscut. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70913/2/APPLAB-72-23-2963-1.pd