Preferential growth orientations of CuCrO2 films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract We reported the investigation of the preferential growth orientations of CuCrO 2 films on different substrates of (0001) Al 2 O 3 , (100) YSZ, and (100) SrTiO 3 grown by pulsed laser deposition. The epitaxial thin films were grown at 700 °C with the oxygen pressure of 10 mTorr. The c-axis preferred orientation of the CuCrO 2 films was observed on (000l) Al 2 O 3 and (100) YSZ substrate. However, the CuCrO 2 films on the (100) SrTiO 3 substrates were oriented perpendicular to (01–15). The six-fold and twelve-fold rotational symmetry in pole figure from (01–12) of CuCrO 2 films were appeared at χ  = 73° using (0001) Al 2 O 3 and (100) YSZ, respectively. The four-fold rotational symmetry points at χ  = 53° were observed from the (0006) plane of CuCrO 2 on (100) SrTiO 3 substrate. The preferential growth orientation and epitaxial relationship of CuCrO 2 films on the different substrates were explained by the lattice mismatch, surface energy, and the surface arrangement of the cation and anion.