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Journal article
Predicting Pulsed-Laser Deposition SrTiO3 Homoepitaxy Growth Dynamics Using High-Speed Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction
ACS applied materials & interfaces, v 17(16), pp 24485-24493
08 Apr 2025
PMID: 40196982
Featured in Collection : Research Supported by Drexel Libraries' OA Programs
Abstract
Pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) is a powerful technique for growing complex oxides with controlled stoichiometry. To understand growth dynamics therein, it is common to leverage in situ spectroscopies, such as reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), to monitor surface crystallinity. Most commercial systems rely on video-rate cameras operating at 60–120 Hz that lack sufficient temporal resolution to capture growth dynamics at practical deposition frequencies. Here, a high-speed platform to record in situ dynamics via RHEED at >500 Hz is implemented. An open-source analysis package is designed to fit diffraction spots to 2D Gaussians, allowing single-pulse surface reconstruction kinetics extraction. Using homoepitaxially deposited (001)-oriented SrTiO3 as a model system, we demonstrate how high-speed RHEED can provide real-time insight into growth processes obscured by slower acquisition systems. By fitting the single-pulse intensity to a set of exponential functions, we observe changes in the characteristic decay time and mechanism correlated to the substrate step width and surface termination. We observe distinct surface effects, with diffraction intensity decaying on lower-energy TiO2-terminated surfaces and stabilizing on SrO- or mixed-terminated surfaces. Similarly, using an exponential model, the extracted characteristic time of adatom deposition decreases with increased density of bonding sites associated with mixed termination and narrower step widths. Ultimately, this work shows how increasing RHEED temporal resolution can uncover new insights into growth processes, with practical implications for the design and control of PLD processes. This experimental platform provides new capabilities to enable data-driven machine learning analysis and autonomous control systems to enhance the complexity and fecundity of PLD.
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Details
- Title
- Predicting Pulsed-Laser Deposition SrTiO3 Homoepitaxy Growth Dynamics Using High-Speed Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction
- Creators
- Yichen Guo - Lehigh UniversityPeter Meisenheimer - University of California, BerkeleyShuyu Qin - Lehigh UniversityXinqiao Zhang - Drexel University, Mechanical Engineering and MechanicsJulian Goddy - Drexel University, Mechanical Engineering and MechanicsRamamoorthy Ramesh - Rice UniversityLane W Martin - University of California, BerkeleyJoshua C Agar (Corresponding Author) - Drexel University, Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Publication Details
- ACS applied materials & interfaces, v 17(16), pp 24485-24493
- Publisher
- ACS Publications
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- Division of Materials Research: 2215789 US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research: DE-SC-0002501, 2246463 Department of Defense, ARO: W911NF-21-2-0162 ARO: W911NF-19-2-0119 National Science Foundation: DMR-2102895
We would like to acknowledge Dr. Liyan Wu for his help with X-ray diffraction experiments. Y.G. acknowledges primary support from MRI: Development of Heterogeneous Edge Computing Platform for Real-Time Scientific Machine Learning, Award No. 2215789. S.Q acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research under Award No. DE-SC-0002501. J.G. acknowledges support from NSF CSSI: Elements: CRISPS: Cell-Centric Recursive Image Similarity Projection Searching, Award No. 2246463. P.M. and R.R. acknowledge funding from the Department of Defense, ARO Grant No. W911NF-21-2-0162 (ETHOS). X.Z. and J.C.A. acknowledge support from ARO Grant No. W911NF-19-2-0119. L.W.M. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation under Grant DMR-2102895.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001463083400001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105003589953
- Other Identifier
- 991022043494004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
- Nanoscience & Nanotechnology