Thin film growth of epitaxial, polycrystalline and amorphous SrRuO3

The SrRuO3 thin films were grown on amorphous fused silica and (100) single crystal LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition method. On fused silica substrates, polycrystalline SrRuO3 thin film was obtained and below the crystallization temperature, SrRuO3 thin films show an amorphous phase. For the case of epitaxial growth on (100) single crystal LaAlO3 substrate, the crystallization temperature of SrRuO3 thin film was increased by similar to 100 degrees C indicating that additional energy is necessary in order to obtain the epitaxial thin film. By using the eclipse method and the control of substrate temperature, the variations of surface morphologies and grain size were observed by atomic force microscope. Below the crystallization temperature, amorphous SrRuO3 thin film shows hopping transport property of an insulator. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.