Influence of Ar background gas pressure on composition and crystal orientation in PLD-Fe(Se1−xTex) thin films

Fe(Se1−xTex) thin films on (1 0 0) SrTiO3 were fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition method, and their crystal orientation, compositional shifts and superconducting properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, etc. Compositional shift is one of the major problems during the fabrication of Fe(Se1−xTex) films due to its containing high volatile elements such as Se and Te. The compositional shifts were found dependent on the Ar background gas pressure (PAr), which was suppressed by the increase of PAr. In addition, it was revealed that the temperature window for the crystallization of the films was shifted to higher temperature region and wider temperature range with the increase of PAr.

► Fe(Se1−xTex) thin films were fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition method.
► The influence of Ar background gas pressure (PAr) was investigated.
► Compositional shifts of the films were suppressed by increasing PAr.
► The temperature window for crystallization of the films was shifted by PAr.