Growth of epitaxial Pt thin films on (0Â 0Â 1) SrTiO3 by rf magnetron sputtering

The growth of platinum thin film by rf magnetron sputtering on SrTiO3(0 0 1) substrates for oxide based devices was investigated. Platinum films grown at temperatures higher than 750 °C were epitaxial ([1 0 0]Pt(0 0 1)//[1 0 0]STO(0 0 1)), whereas at lower temperatures Pt(1 1 1) films were obtained. The surface morphology of the Pt films showed a strong dependence on the deposition temperature as was revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). At elevated temperatures there is a three-dimensional (3D) growth of rectangular atomically flat islands with deep boundaries between them. On the other hand, at low deposition temperatures, a two-dimensional (2D) layered growth was observed. The transition from 2D to 3D growth modes was observed that occurs for temperatures around 450 °C. The obtained epitaxial thin films also formed an atomically sharp interface with the SrTiO3(0 0 1) substrate as confirmed by HRTEM.