Praseodymium oxide growth on Si(100) by pulsed-laser deposition

We report on the pulsed-laser deposition of high-K praseodymium oxide films onto Si(1 0 0) surfaces by laser-ablating a sintered Pr6O11 target. Optical microscope, SEM, and AFM investigations reveal two kinds of PrxOy-surface structures, which are identified as: (a) large-scaled particles, and (b) ordered structures (rods) of different size with different orientations. The size of the particles increases with laser wavelength. The size of the ordered surface structures strongly depends on the substrate temperature. For the first time, we show characteristic Pr-Raman signals which confirm the crystalline quality of the grown layer. They also indicate that the silicon layer at the Si-PrxOy interface is under compressive stress. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.