title: Dynamic Scaling and Island Growth Kinetics in Pulsed Laser Deposition of SrTiO_{3}.
abstract: We use real-time diffuse surface x-ray diffraction to probe the evolution of island size distributions and its effects on surface smoothing in pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of SrTiO_{3}. We show that the island size evolution obeys dynamic scaling and two distinct regimes of island growth kinetics. Our data show that PLD film growth can persist without roughening despite thermally driven Ostwald ripening, the main mechanism for surface smoothing, being shut down. The absence of roughening is concomitant with decreasing island density, contradicting the prevailing view that increasing island density is the key to surface smoothing in PLD. We also report a previously unobserved crossover from diffusion-limited to attachment-limited island growth that reveals the influence of nonequilibrium atomic level surface transport processes on the growth modes in PLD. We show by direct measurements that attachment-limited island growth is the dominant process in PLD that creates step flowlike behavior or quasistep flow as PLD "self-organizes" local step flow on a length scale consistent with the substrate temperature and PLD parameters.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Gyula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eres
authors.affiliation: X-Ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Tischler
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Ho Nyung
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.affiliation: X-Ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 61801, USA.|Photon Sciences Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zschack
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Larson