PLD Growth of Epitaxially-stabilized 5d Perovskite SrIrO3 Thin Films

We have investigated the details of the growth behavior of epitaxially-stabilized 5d perovskite SrIrO3 thin films deposited by using a pulsed laser deposition method. During the deposition, a marked decrease in plume size was observed, which was accompanied by the formation of Ir-rich conical structures on the surface of the polycrystalline SrIrO3 target. High-resolution X-ray diffraction studies revealed that films thicker than certain thickness exhibited a mixed character of a high-quality phase and a relatively poor-quality phase while thinner films showed a high crystalline quality. These observations offer valuable information on the correlation between the plume status and the crystalline quality of iridate thin films.