Epitaxial and oriented YMnO3 film growth by pulsed laser deposition

We have studied the crystal growth behavior of multiferroic YMnO3 films synthesized by pulsed laser deposition on several different substrates. The growth orientation and surface morphology of YMnO3 films were sensitively dependent on the substrates and deposition conditions. An excellent epitaxial hexagonal YMnO3 film was grown on the (I 1 1) Y-stabilized ZrO2 substrate, but with increasing the oxygen pressure few percentage of 30degrees twin growth was developed. On the other hand, the YMnO3 film on the Si substrate with an amorphous SiO2 layer exhibited (0 0 0 1) or (1 12 1) orientation. The (0 0 0 1) oriented hexagonal YMnO3 phase was a stable one under tensile stress by the (0 0 0 1) Al2O3 substrate, while it competed with the (0 1 I)-oriented orthorhombic YMnO3 phase under the compressive stress by the (I 1 1) SrTiO3 substrate. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.