Pulsed organometallic beam epitaxy of complex oxide films

Abstract

We report the results of a pulsed organometallic beam epitaxy (POMBE) process for growing complex oxide films at low background gas pressure (10−4–10−2 Torr) and low substrate temperature (600–680 °C) using organometallic precursors in an oxygen plasma environment. Our results show that POMBE can extend the capability of organometallic chemical vapor deposition to growing complex oxide films with high precision both in composition and structure without the need for post-deposition oxidation and heat treatments. The growth of phase-pure, highly oriented Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting oxide films {[Tc (R=0)=90.5 K] and Jc (77 K, 50 K gauss)=1.1×105 A/cm2} is given as an example. Similar to the pulsed laser deposition process, the POMBE method has the potential for in situ processing of multilayer structures (e.g., junctions).