Investigation of the growth dynamics of pulsed laser-deposited RuO2 films using in situ resistance measurement and atomic force microscopy

RuO2 thin films were grown on (001) LaAlO3 utilizing the pulsed laser deposition technique. Atomic force microscopy was used to check the topography of films at different growth stages. The in situ resistivity measurement was used to monitor the resistance change during and post film growth with changes of resistivity associated with the change of film growth mode. Transmission electron microscopy was used to reveal film quality and crystalline information. The layer-plus-island Stranski–Krastanov growth mode is proposed according to above results. The ambient O2 filled during growth is found to be the main oxygen source for the formed RuO2.