Nucleation and growth of SrTiO3/Si(100) observed by atomic force microscopy

Strontium titanate thin films were studied with X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy during growth at different pressures and temperatures. The nucleation process on top of the islands grown was directly observed with high-resolution. The surface morphology of the films was found to depend on the ambient oxygen pressure and substrate temperature during growth. The films were grown by pulsed laser deposition at different ambient oxygen pressure. The surface roughness of the films decreased with decreasing ambient oxygen growth pressure and with increasing substrate temperatures. The high nucleation probability on top of the films results in an effective mass transport on top of the first-layer islands. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.