Formation of highly oriented layer-structured Er2SiO5 films by pulsed laser deposition

✍ Scribed by Tadamasa Kimura; Yasuhito Tanaka; Hiroshi Ueda; Hideo Isshiki

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 304 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1386-9477
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physe.2008.08.013

✦ Synopsis

Highly oriented layer-structured erbium monosilicate (Er 2 SiO 5 ) films have been formed by the pulsed laser deposition technique. Er and Si are alternately deposited in a oxygen atmosphere on Si substrates by computer-controlled deposition so that the ratio of Er and Si becomes 2:1 and one cycle of Er-Si-O layer becomes about 0.86 nm thickness which is the period of highly oriented crystalline Er 2 SiO 5 films obtained in our laboratory. Crystalline Er 2 SiO 5 films up to about 100 nm thickness with a high orientation were successfully formed after deposition of 100 stacks of Er-Si-O layers and postdeposition annealing above $1100 1C. The achievement of fabricating these thick and highly oriented crystalline Er 2 SiO 5 films is due to the controlled Er, Si and O ratio and a quasi-layered structure of the asdeposited films in which self-organization can be attained by short migrations of each element during the high-temperature annealing.