title: Atomically defined templates for epitaxial growth of complex oxide thin films.
abstract: Atomically defined substrate surfaces are prerequisite for the epitaxial growth of complex oxide thin films. In this protocol, two approaches to obtain such surfaces are described. The first approach is the preparation of single terminated perovskite SrTiO3 (001) and DyScO3 (110) substrates. Wet etching was used to selectively remove one of the two possible surface terminations, while an annealing step was used to increase the smoothness of the surface. The resulting single terminated surfaces allow for the heteroepitaxial growth of perovskite oxide thin films with high crystalline quality and well-defined interfaces between substrate and film. In the second approach, seed layers for epitaxial film growth on arbitrary substrates were created by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposition of nanosheets. As model system Ca2Nb3O10(-) nanosheets were used, prepared by delamination of their layered parent compound HCa2Nb3O10. A key advantage of creating seed layers with nanosheets is that relatively expensive and size-limited single crystalline substrates can be replaced by virtually any substrate material.
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente.
authors.forename: A Petra
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dral
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dubbink
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente.
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nijland
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente.
authors.forename: Johan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: ten Elshof
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente.
authors.forename: Guus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rijnders
authors.affiliation: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente; G.Koster@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Gertjan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koster
mesh_terms: D017610:Calcium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004419:Dysprosium / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D009556:Niobium / Q000737:chemistry*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012538:Scandium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013324:Strontium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D017610:Calcium Compounds; D010087:Oxides; D009556:Niobium; C059910:perovskite; D004419:Dysprosium; D014025:Titanium; C119252:strontium titanium oxide; C046254:scandium oxide; D012538:Scandium; D013324:Strontium