Formation of quasi-ordered structures on the surface of strontium titanate in a plasma field

The X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopic properties of strontium titanate single crystals and their surface exposed to plasma have been investigated. Both undoped SrTiO3 crystals and crystals containing impurity ions of the iron or lanthanum groups have been analyzed. Data on the plasma-induced formation of ordered crystallites on the sample surface were obtained by electron and atomic force microscopy. The crystallites are from 10−7 to 10−9 m in size and their hypothetical orientation [321] is independent of the sample orientation and irradiation dose.