In-situ MBE growth of epitaxial CuO films with a source of activated oxygen

The growth of superconducting oxides in vacuum conditions compatible with molecular beam epitaxy is a challenge, since these materials decompose under UHV conditions and at high temperatures. For this experiment, epitaxial CuO films were grown on heated MgO(100) and Y-stabilized Zr02 (YSZ) (100) substrates in an oxygen background pressure of 6 × 10-6 Torr. Cu was evaporated from a conventional effusion cell, and the in-situ oxidation was performed with an RF plasma oxygen source. X-ray diffraction and RHEED results show that CuO grows epitaxially in the [111] direction on MgO and in the [020] direction on YSZ, although in both cases epitaxial conditions are only satisfied along one particular substrate direction. © 1990.