Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4225–4228 (1998)Nucleation Mechanism of YBa2Cu3O7-δ on SrTiO3(001)Received 1 December 1997; published in the issue dated 11 May 1998 Using UHV-scanning-tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy we show that submonolayer coverages of YBa2Cu3O7-δ deposited on SrTiO3(001) nucleate as cubic, semiconducting (Y,Ba)CuO3-x phase as proven by the height of the nuclei and their density of states. Nuclei are observed at upper step edges and on the substrate terraces exclusively. Minimization of surface and interface energies forces this nucleation behavior. At about one monolayer, the film transforms into the orthorhombic, metallic YBa2Cu3O7-δ phase indicating that the formation enthalpy of the bulk phases now dominates the growth process. © 1998 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.4225
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.4225
PACS:
68.35.Fx, 74.76.Bz, 82.65.-i
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