Epitaxial copper oxide thin films deposited on cubic oxide substrates

Abstract

We study the growth conditions of Cu2O thin films deposited on MgO (0 0 1) and SrTiO3 (0 0 1) substrates by pulsed laser ablation, in order to explore the compatibility between semiconducting p-type Cu2O and other perovskite oxides in view of the fabrication of oxide electronics heterostructures. We find that in both cases perfect epitaxy, high crystalline quality and good out-of-plane orientation are achieved. In this context, epitaxy plays a major role in driving the phase formation. On the other hand, in films deposited at temperatures higher than 700 °C transport is inhibited by poor grain connectivity, which is an inevitable consequence of the necessity for the crystal to release the lattice strain. Instead, better connectivity and bulk-like values of resistivity, as well as good crystallinity and orientation, are obtained for films deposited at 650 °C. This should be kept in mind for the fabrication of stacked layer oxide heterostructures, where deep grooves between adjacent grains would be a serious drawback both for vertical and planar transport.