Design and performance of a molecular beam epitaxy system for metallic heterostructure deposition illustrated by a study of the controlled epitaxy of Cu(111)∕Al2O3(0001)

Abstract

We describe the design and construction of an ultrahigh-vacuum molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system for the growth of metallic heterostructures, particularly magnetic metals, and alloys. The system, which was specifically designed to be both cost-effective and compact, incorporates an “axial” design with a large source to substrate distance (>69cm) to meet demands for high uniformity, low deposition rate, and compatibility with nanolithographic masks and templates. The growth and in situ characterization capabilities are specifically tailored to metallic film growth allowing for greatly reduced costs in comparison to commercial MBE systems. We demonstrate the performance of the system via a study of the controlled epitaxy of Cu(111) on Al2O3(0001), a useful substrate/buffer layer combination for the growth of many magnetic transition metals and their alloys. Exploiting the three-dimensional nature of the growth at room temperature we are able to control the in-plane crystallite size, independent of the surface roughness, by varying the deposition rate.

The Nano-Jackhammer effect in probing near-surface mechanical properties

“…The Ni films were grown to a thickness of 200 and 1000 Å and were deposited by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in a system described elsewhere (Lund and Leighton, 2004). This deposition took place at 0.1 Å/s with a base pressure below 10 À10 Torr, after chemical cleaning of the substrates followed by vacuum annealing.…”

Nanoindentation of thin films: Simulations and experiments

“…The Ni film was grown to a thickness of 20 nm and was deposited by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) in a system described elsewhere. 29 This deposition took place at 0.1 Å /s with a base pressure below 10 À10 Torr, after chemical cleaning of the substrates followed by vacuum annealing. Wide angle x-ray diffraction confirmed the growth orientation and coherence in the growth direction, whereas in-plane diffraction and in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) confirmed in-plane epitaxy.…”