Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001)
Oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy was used to grow thin films of In 2O 3 on α-Al 2O 3(0001) over a range of substrate temperatures between 300 and 750 °C. The crystal structures and morphologies were examined by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force micros...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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2012
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| _version_ | 1797073753218220032 |
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| author | Zhang, K Lazarov, V Galindo, P Oropeza, F Payne, D Lai, H Egdell, R |
| author_facet | Zhang, K Lazarov, V Galindo, P Oropeza, F Payne, D Lai, H Egdell, R |
| author_sort | Zhang, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy was used to grow thin films of In 2O 3 on α-Al 2O 3(0001) over a range of substrate temperatures between 300 and 750 °C. The crystal structures and morphologies were examined by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. In all cases, the thermodynamically stable bodycentered cubic phase bcc-In 2O 3 predominates in the films, with an epitaxial relationship In 2O 3(111)||Al 2O 3(0001) and In 2O 3 [11̄10]||Al 2O 3[101̄0] determined by matching between the sublattice oxygen atoms in Al 2O 3(0001) and the In atoms in In 2O 3(111): This involves a 30° rotation of the epilayer unit cell relative to that of the substrate and a 3:2 coincidence structure. A minority fraction of metastable rhombohedral rh-In 2O 3(0001) can be stabilized for substrate temperatures below 550 °C due to the similarity in the bonding symmetries between rh-In 2O 3 and α-Al 2O 3. Despite the large mismatches between In 2O 3 and Al 2O 3 for the two epitaxial systems discussed above (-13.2% for bcc-In 2O 3 and +15.1% for rh-In 2O 3), we show that the epitaxy can be maintained in both cases by matching small but different integral multiples of lattice planes of the In 2O 3 and the substrate at the interface between the two. Thus, the strain is effectively released by dislocations localized at the interface. This so-called domain matching epitaxial growth mode may open up a new route to fabrication of high-quality crystalline thin films of oxides on highly mismatched substrates. © 2011 American Chemical Society. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:26:32Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6a8dc8a8-a6be-4413-b176-17154c9e1d40 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:26:32Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6a8dc8a8-a6be-4413-b176-17154c9e1d402022-03-26T18:58:18ZDomain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001)Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6a8dc8a8-a6be-4413-b176-17154c9e1d40Symplectic Elements at Oxford2012Zhang, KLazarov, VGalindo, POropeza, FPayne, DLai, HEgdell, ROxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy was used to grow thin films of In 2O 3 on α-Al 2O 3(0001) over a range of substrate temperatures between 300 and 750 °C. The crystal structures and morphologies were examined by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. In all cases, the thermodynamically stable bodycentered cubic phase bcc-In 2O 3 predominates in the films, with an epitaxial relationship In 2O 3(111)||Al 2O 3(0001) and In 2O 3 [11̄10]||Al 2O 3[101̄0] determined by matching between the sublattice oxygen atoms in Al 2O 3(0001) and the In atoms in In 2O 3(111): This involves a 30° rotation of the epilayer unit cell relative to that of the substrate and a 3:2 coincidence structure. A minority fraction of metastable rhombohedral rh-In 2O 3(0001) can be stabilized for substrate temperatures below 550 °C due to the similarity in the bonding symmetries between rh-In 2O 3 and α-Al 2O 3. Despite the large mismatches between In 2O 3 and Al 2O 3 for the two epitaxial systems discussed above (-13.2% for bcc-In 2O 3 and +15.1% for rh-In 2O 3), we show that the epitaxy can be maintained in both cases by matching small but different integral multiples of lattice planes of the In 2O 3 and the substrate at the interface between the two. Thus, the strain is effectively released by dislocations localized at the interface. This so-called domain matching epitaxial growth mode may open up a new route to fabrication of high-quality crystalline thin films of oxides on highly mismatched substrates. © 2011 American Chemical Society. |
| spellingShingle | Zhang, K Lazarov, V Galindo, P Oropeza, F Payne, D Lai, H Egdell, R Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title | Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title_full | Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title_fullStr | Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title_short | Domain Matching Epitaxial Growth of In2O3 Thin Films on alpha-Al2O3(0001) |
| title_sort | domain matching epitaxial growth of in2o3 thin films on alpha al2o3 0001 |
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