MgO/Cu2O Superlattices: Growth of Epitaxial Two-Dimensional Nanostructures

Abstract

Alternated stacking of dissimilar layers can produce novel superlattice materials with multiple functionalities. The majority of such work reported in literature on epitaxial superlattices has been on alternating layers with the same space group (SG) and crystal structure (CS), whereas superlattices with the same CS but different SG have not been studied as much. We have grown superlattices with two well-known oxide materials, viz. cuprite (Cu2O, CS = cubic and SG = Pn $$ \bar{3} $$ m) and magnesium oxide (MgO, CS = cubic, SG = Fm $$ \bar{3} $$ m). An MgO buffer layer grown near 650°C at the film–substrate interface was found to be essential to achieving reasonable long-range atomic order. Grazing-angle x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectivity, and electron diffraction analyses as well as transmission electron microscopy were used to investigate the interface abruptness, smoothness, and general crystallinity of the individual layers. Interdiffusion between MgO and Cu2O near interfacial regions places a limit of 250°C on the growth temperature for fabrication of superlattices with reasonably sharp interfaces.