Direct evidence for block-by-block growth in high-temperature superconductor ultrathin films

M. Varela, W. Grogger, D. Arias, Z. Sefrioui, C. León, C. Ballesteros, K. M. Krishnan, J. Santamaría

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To resolve the long-standing but fundamental issue of growth modes, a consistent approach based on ex situ quantitative structural and chemical characterization of epitaxially grown ultrathin layers in YBCO/PBCO superlattices was developed. From the analysis of superlattices with a noninteger number of YBCO layers, concrete evidence was obtained for a two dimensional block-by-block growth mechanism in which the growth units are single YBCO unit cells and layer growth proceeds laterally, by the addition of one unit cell blocks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5156-5159
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume86
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 May 2001
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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