Tailored superlattices containing distinct oxide and oxycarbonate blocks grown by pulsed laser deposition

The synthesis of copper oxycarbonate superlattices comprised of two structural types that are observed in high T-c superconductors was achieved using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. These artificially layered materials consist of specific numbers of alternately stacked infinite layer SrCuO2 and oxycarbonate Ba2-xCaxCuO2CO3 blocks, and were grown on (110) NdGaO3 using two targets. From x-ray diffraction, it was found that several unit cells of SrCuO2 could be inserted between the layers of Ba2-xCaxCuO2CO3. These results demonstrate that a large series of new structures combining oxycarbonate with oxide components can be obtained using a multitarget PLD system. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.