Pulsed liquid-injection metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of (La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3)15 superlattices

(La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3)(15) superlattices have been grown by pulsed liquid-injection metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on monocrystalline substrates such as LaAlO3, SrTiO3, and MgO. The pulsed-injection technique allows one to control precisely the amount of precursors delivered to the deposition chamber and thus the thickness of each individual layer. The period of the superlattices depends indeed linearly on the number of injected droplets. In our deposition conditions, the average growth rates are similar to0.130 nm/injection for La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and 0.042 nm/injection for SrTiO3, with no significant difference as regard to the substrate used. The strain's state of the superlattices depends on the relative thicknesses of the La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and SrTiO3 layers and also on the substrate used. Finally, the deposition of superlattices with ultrathin interlayers of few unit cells has been demonstrated. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.