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Strained single-crystal Al 2 O 3 grown layer by layer on Nb (110) thin films
The authors report on the growth of single-crystal Al 2 O 3 thin films on Nb (110) surfaces. Niobium is grown on α - Al 2 O 3 ( 11 2 ¯ 0 ) , followed by the evaporation of Al in an O 2 background. Initially, Al 2 O 3 grows layer by layer with hexagonal symmetry indicating either α - Al 2 O 3 (0001)...
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| Published in: | Applied physics letters 2007-06, Vol.90 (24), p.243510-243510-3 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | |
| Citations: | Items that this one cites |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The authors report on the growth of single-crystal
Al
2
O
3
thin films on Nb (110) surfaces. Niobium is grown on
α
-
Al
2
O
3
(
11
2
¯
0
)
, followed by the evaporation of Al in an
O
2
background. Initially,
Al
2
O
3
grows layer by layer with hexagonal symmetry indicating either
α
-
Al
2
O
3
(0001) or
γ
-
Al
2
O
3
(111). Diffraction measurements show that the
Al
2
O
3
initially grows clamped to the Nb with tensile strain near 10%. This strain relaxes with further deposition and beyond about
50
Å
, the authors observe island growth. Despite the asymmetric misfit between
Al
2
O
3
and Nb, the strain is surprisingly isotropic. Josephson junctions employing epitaxial
Al
2
O
3
show low effective tunnel barriers and high leakage currents. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0003-6951 1077-3118 |
| DOI: | 10.1063/1.2747675 |