Epitaxial and oriented YMnO3 film growth by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract We have studied the crystal growth behavior of multiferroic YMnO 3 films synthesized by pulsed laser deposition on several different substrates. The growth orientation and surface morphology of YMnO 3 films were sensitively dependent on the substrates and deposition conditions. An excellent epitaxial hexagonal YMnO 3 film was grown on the (1 1 1) Y-stabilized ZrO 2 substrate, but with increasing the oxygen pressure few percentage of 30° twin growth was developed. On the other hand, the YMnO 3 film on the Si substrate with an amorphous SiO 2 layer exhibited (0 0 0 1) or (1 1 2 1) orientation. The (0 0 0 1) oriented hexagonal YMnO 3 phase was a stable one under tensile stress by the (0 0 0 1) Al 2 O 3 substrate, while it competed with the (0 1 1)-oriented orthorhombic YMnO 3 phase under the compressive stress by the (1 1 1) SrTiO 3 substrate.