February 7, 2007
Journal Article

Epitaxial Growth and Microstructure of Cu2O Nanoparticle/thin Films on SrTiO3(100)

Abstract

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) was grown on SrTiO3 (STO)(100) by oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Microstructure of the grown layer and Cu valence state were analyzed using x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as well as electron diffractions. The grown layer was dominated by Cu2O phase, possessing an epitaxial orientation with the substrate such that: Cu2O[001]//STO[001] and Cu2O(100)//STO(100). Cu2O film morphologically shows dependence on the growth rate. Typically, a fast growth will lead to the formation of a thin film with a relatively smooth surface. A slow growth will lead to the development of nanoparticles, featuring the formation of Cu2O pyramid. The pyramids are invariantly defined by the Cu2O {111} planes. Given the fact that the {111} planes correspond to the lowest surface energy of Cu2O, a slow growth will lend the system enough time to allow it to adopt the pyramid configuration by which the overall energy of the system was minimized.

Revised: April 7, 2011 | Published: February 7, 2007

Citation

Yu Z., C.M. Wang, M.H. Engelhard, P. Nachimuthu, D.E. McCready, I. Lyubinetsky, and S. Thevuthasan. 2007. Epitaxial Growth and Microstructure of Cu2O Nanoparticle/thin Films on SrTiO3(100). Nanotechnology 18. PNNL-SA-53321. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/18/11/115601