Epitaxial growth by pulsed laser deposition of Er-doped Sc 2O3 films on sesquioxides monitored in situ by reflection high energy electron diffraction

In this letter, the authors report on the epitaxial growth by pulsed laser deposition of Sc2 O3 and Er (5%): Sc2 O3 films on {100} and {111} oriented Sc2 O3. They observed layer-by-layer growth in the orientation defined by the substrate. This was indicated by reflection high energy electron diffraction as intensity oscillations of the specularly reflected electron beam. A monolayer-smooth film surface was observed by atomic force microscopy. Such a growth behavior was also achieved during initial growth of Sc2 O3 on {100} oriented Y2 O3. Additional x-ray diffraction analysis shows good agreement with the growth behavior mentioned above.