Epitaxial growth of barium titanate thin films on germanium via atomic layer deposition

Barium titanate BaTiO₃ (BTO) thin films were epitaxially grown at 225 °C on 2 × 1-reconstructed Ge(001) surfaces via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Approximately 2 nm of BTO film was grown directly on Ge(001) as an amorphous film. Electron diffraction confirmed the epitaxy of the BTO films after post-deposition annealing at 650 °C. Additional BTO layers grown on the crystalline BTO/Ge(001) film were crystalline as-deposited. X-ray diffraction indicated that the epitaxial BTO films had a c-axis out-of-plane orientation, and the abrupt BTO/Ge interface was preserved with no sign of any interfacial germanium oxide. Scanning transmission electron microscopy provided evidence of Ba atoms occupying the troughs of the dimer rows of the 2 × 1-reconstructed Ge(001) surface, as well as preservation of the 2 × 1-reconstructed Ge(001) surface. This study presents a low-temperature process to fabricate BTO/Ge heterostructures.