Dislocations in SrTiO3 thin films grown on LaAlO3 substrates

2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 3117-3126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. L. Qin ◽  
C. L. Jia ◽  
K. Urban ◽  
J. H. Hao ◽  
X. X. Xi

The dislocation configurations in SrTiO3 thin films grown epitaxially on LaAlO3 (100) substrates were studied by conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Misfit dislocations had, in most cases, a Burgers vector a〈100〉 and line directions of 〈100〉 These dislocations constitute orthogonal arrays of parallel dislocations at the interface, relieving the lattice mismatch between SrTiO3 and LaAlO3. Threading dislocations were found to be the major defects in the films. Two types of threading dislocations with the Burgers vectors a〈100〉?and a〈100〉?were identified. The relations of these threading dislocations with the misfit dislocations were investigated and are discussed in this paper.

1995 ◽  
Vol 401 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Ryen ◽  
E. Olssoni ◽  
L. D. Madsen ◽  
C. N. L. Johnson ◽  
X. Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractEpitaxial single layer (001) SrTiO3 films and an epitaxial Yba2Cu3O7-x/SrTiO3 multilayer were dc and rf sputtered on (110)rhombohedral LaAIO3 substrates. The microstructure of the films was characterised using transmission electron microscopy. The single layer SrTiO3 films exhibited different columnar morphologies. The column boundaries were due to the lattice mismatch between film and substrate. The boundaries were associated with interfacial dislocations at the film/substrate interface, where the dislocations relaxed the strain in the a, b plane. The columns consisted of individual subgrains. These subgrains were misoriented with respect to each other, with different in-plane orientations and different tilts of the (001) planes. The subgrain boundaries were antiphase or tilt boundaries.The individual layers of the Yba2Cu3O7-x/SrTiO3 multilayer were relatively uniform. A distortion of the SrTiO3 unit cell of 0.9% in the ‘001’ direction and a Sr/Ti ratio of 0.62±0.04 was observed, both in correspondence with the single layer SrTiO3 films. Areas with different tilt of the (001)-planes were also present, within each individual SrTiO3 layer.


2003 ◽  
Vol 779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Seok Kim ◽  
Sang Ho Oh ◽  
Ju Hyung Suh ◽  
Chan Gyung Park

AbstractMechanisms of misfit strain relaxation in epitaxially grown Bi4-xLaxTi3O12 (BLT) thin films deposited on SrTiO3 (STO) and LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates have been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The misfit strain of 20 nm thick BLT films grown on STO substrate was relaxed by forming misfit dislocations at the interface. However, cracks were observed in 100 nm thick BLT films grown on the same STO. It was confirmed that cracks were formed because of high misfit strain accumulated with increasing the thickness of BLT, that was not sufficiently relaxed by misfit dislocations. In the case of the BLT film grown on LAO substrate, the magnitude of lattice misfit between BLT and LAO was very small (~1/10) in comparison with the case of the BLT grown on STO. The relatively small misfit strain formed in layered structure of the BLT films on LAO, therefore, was easily relaxed by distorting the film, rather than forming misfit dislocations or cracks, resulting in misorientation regions in the BLT film.


2006 ◽  
Vol 527-529 ◽  
pp. 1513-1516
Author(s):  
J. Bai ◽  
X. Huang ◽  
Balaji Raghothamachar ◽  
Michael Dudley ◽  
B. Wagner ◽  
...  

Strain relaxation in the GaN/AlN/6H-SiC epitaxial system grown by vicinal surface epitaxy (VSE) is investigated and compared with that in on-axis epitaxy. High resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) measurements show that GaN films grown by VSE have improved crystalline quality. High resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) studies reveal that there are two types of misfit dislocations (MDs) at AlN/6H-SiC interfaces: 60˚ complete dislocations along <1120 > directions with Burgers vector 1/3<1120 > and 60˚ Shockley partials along <10 10 > directions with Burgers vector 1/3<10 10 >. The latter are usually geometrical partial misfit dislocations (GPMDs) that are dominant in VSE to accommodate the lattice mismatch and stacking sequence mismatch simultaneously. In VSE, it is the high-density GPMDs formed at the vicinal surface steps that facilitate rapid strain relaxation at the initial stage of deposition and hence lead to superior crystalline quality of the subsequently grown GaN films.


1997 ◽  
Vol 468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing-Hong Li ◽  
Olga M. Kryliouk ◽  
Paul H. Holloway ◽  
Timothy J. Anderson ◽  
Kevin S. Jones

ABSTRACTMicrostructures of GaN films grown on the LiGaO2 by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). TEM and HRTEM results show that high quality single-crystal wurtzite GaN films have been deposited on the LiGaO2 and that the GaN film and the LiGaO2 have the following orientation relationship: (2110)(0002)GaN ̂ (002)LiGaO2 ^ 5–8°. A higher density of threading dislocations and stacking faults have been observed near the GáN/LiGaO2 interface, even though the lattice mismatch of GaN to LiGaO2 is only ∼1%. Threading dislocations with burgers vector b=<0001> and b=a/3<1120> are predominant in the GaN films. Also the GaN films contain some columnar inversion domain boundaries (IDBs). Both TEM and HRTEM results reveal that there is an unexpected amorphous or nano-crystalline inter-layer between the GaN and the LiGaO2 with a thickness of 50–100 nm.


1996 ◽  
Vol 436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cengiz S. Ozkan ◽  
William D. Nix ◽  
Huajian Gao

AbstractHeteroepitaxial Si1-xGex. thin films deposited on silicon substrates exhibit surface roughening via surface diffusion under the effect of a compressive stress which is caused by a lattice mismatch. In these films, surface roughening can take place in the form of ridges which can be aligned along <100> or <110> directions, depending on the film thickness. In this paper, we investigate this anisotropic dependence of surface roughening and present an analysis of it. We have studied the surface roughening behaviour of 18% Ge and 22% Ge thin films subjected to controlled annealing experiments. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy have been used to study the morphology and microstructure of the surface ridges and the dislocations that form during annealing.


1990 ◽  
Vol 216 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.G. Lawson-Jack ◽  
I.P. Jones ◽  
D.J. Williams ◽  
M.G. Astles

ABSTRACTTransmission electron microscopy has been used to assess the defect contents of the various layers and interfaces in (CdHg) Te heterostructures. Examination of cross sectional specimens of these materials suggests that the density of misfit dislocations at the interfaces is related to the layer thicknesses, and that the high density of dislocations which are generated at the GaAs/CdTe interface are effectively prevented from penetrating into the CdHgTe epilayer by a 3um thick buffer layer. The majority of the dislocations in the layers were found to have a Burgers vector b = a/2<110> and either lie approximately parallel or inclined at an angle of ∼ 60° to the interfacial plane.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document