1302.5074 (J. H. Gruenewald et al.)

Pulsed laser deposition with simultaneous in situ real-time monitoring
of optical spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflection high-energy electron
diffraction    [PDF]

J. H. Gruenewald, J. Nichols, S. S. A. Seo

We present a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system that can monitor growth by simultaneously using in situ optical spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). System performance is evaluated by depositing LaMnO_{3+d} (LMO) thin-films on SrTiO_{3} (001) substrates. While the RHEED precisely monitors the number of LMO atomic layers and surface structure during the deposition, the optical SE spectra simultaneously can provide real time information of film thickness as well as the optical constants/dielectric function when the appropriate model is applied. The RHEED thickness measurement is in good agreement with the thickness calculated by the optical SE spectra, thereby demonstrating the validity of the applied model. The simultaneous monitoring of both RHEED and optical SE offers indispensable insight into the atomic-scale oxide thin-film growth and characterization during PLD.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.5074