Nanoscale cube-on-cube growth of SrS on MgO substrate by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

We report the growth of epitaxial SrS on (001)MgO substrates by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy. During the deposition, the film structure and orientation were characterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It was shown that the film epitaxial planes conserved the substrate surface symmetry - cubic. X-ray diffraction results establish the epitaxial relationship as cube-on-cube (001)SrS(001)MgO with [100]SrS[100]MgO for growth temperature between 400 and 600°C. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analyses were used to study the films' surface morphology. Depending on the growth temperature, different sizes of SrS islands can be achieved. The growth of SrS on MgO is thought to occur in step-flow growth mode. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.