AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Thin Film Thursday Sessions
       Session TF-ThM

Invited Paper TF-ThM3
Fundamentals in Thin Film Pulsed Laser Deposition: Growth Control at an Atomic Level

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 8:40 am, Room 2022

Session: Fundamentals in Thin Film Deposition
Presenter: D.H.A. Blank, University of Twente and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, The Netherlands
Correspondent: Click to Email
Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is attractive for research on complex oxides because it is fast and one can easily investigate a wide range of different materials and compositions. Currently, a major issue in the growth of oxide materials with PLD is the control of the surface morphology. For most materials it is necessary to control the thickness and roughness of the thin films down to an atomic scale. Such well-controlled growth can also be used to manufacture artificially layered structures of, e.g., ferroelectric materials. In this way it is possible to create a whole new class of materials. It would be possible to create materials tailor-made to applications. Such materials are also ideal for the purpose of understanding the physics and the search for materials with even yet not-known properties. Much effort is put in the deposition of excellent textured layers without grain boundaries. In general the properties of highly oriented films approximate the properties of single crystals. Single or multi-layer structures require a well-conditioned process technique. The deposited layers must have a large homogeneity with well-defined material properties, smooth surfaces, and, in the case of oxides, the correct oxygen stoichiometry. Growth monitoring became possible even at relative high deposition pressures using ellipsometry and so-called high pressure Reflecting High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED). These developments have helped to make PLD a grown-up technique to fabricate complex materials and structures. With our development of HP RHEED PLD we are able to control the growth of these materials and to introduce new growth manipulations, like pulsed laser interval deposition. At present, extremely sharp and homogeneous interfaces can be realized and this is, for example, yet utilized in SrTiO@sub 3@-LaAlO@sub 3@ interfaces and artificial ferroelectric structures. In this presentation I like to show these unique techniques and the obtained results to design complex materials ‘on demand’.