Adsorption-controlled molecular-beam epitaxial growth of BiFe O3

BiFe O3 thin films have been deposited on (111) SrTi O3 single crystal substrates by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy in an adsorption-controlled growth regime. This is achieved by supplying a bismuth overpressure and utilizing the differential vapor pressures between bismuth oxides and BiFe O3 to control stoichiometry. Four-circle x-ray diffraction reveals phase-pure, untwinned, epitaxial, (0001)-oriented films with rocking curve full width at half maximum values as narrow as 25 arc sec (0.007°). Second harmonic generation polar plots combined with diffraction establish the crystallographic point group of these untwinned epitaxial films to be 3m at room temperature. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.