Oxygen-plasma-assisted epitaxial growth of tetragonal CuO(001) and CoxCu1-xO(001) thin films
Abstract
The growth of ultrathin tetragonal CuO films by pulsed laser deposition was reported several years ago. In this work, we demonstrate that the same phase can be synthesized using oxygen-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We show that it remains stable up to a thickness of 6 nm, significantly exceeding the thickness range previously achieved by PLD.
Using x-ray diffraction, we resolve its crystal structure and confirm that it consists of a tetragonally distorted rock-salt phase in coherent epitaxy on SrTiO 3 (001), as initially hypothesized. We precisely determine the tetragonal distortion, obtaining a c/a ratio of 1.342(2) for a 3 nm thick film. Using resonant x-ray diffraction, we also demostrate that Co can partially replace Cu without altering the crystal structure. The structural stability of this novel CuO phase upon doping is a key asset for potential future applications in both magnetism and superconductivity
Related
- Solution-plasma-derived Fe–N–C/NiFe-LDH composite for bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis: effects of surface modification and LDH growth
- Epitaxial Growth, Electronic Transitions, and Size-Dependent Cavity Modes of WS2@ReSe2 Core–Shell Nanotubes
- Low-Temperature Growth of Epitaxial Li3xLa(2/3-x)TiO3 Thin Films by RF Magnetron Sputtering
- Plasma-Enhancement of Oxygen Pumping: The Role of Atomic Oxygen
- Solution plasma synthesis of birnessite-type MnO2/carbon composites: support-dependent surface chemistry and alkaline oxygen reduction performance
BibTeX
@article{yadav2026oxygenplasmaassisted,
title = {{Oxygen-plasma-assisted epitaxial growth of tetragonal CuO(001) and CoxCu1-xO(001) thin films}},
author = {Anjali Yadav and Gregory Cabailh and Yves Joly and Lucio Martinelli and Roberta Poloni and Xavier Torrelles and Maurizio de Santis and Véronique Langlais},
journal = {Current Applied Physics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.cap.2026.07.001},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05773531v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Oxygen-plasma-assisted epitaxial growth of tetragonal CuO(001) and CoxCu1-xO(001) thin films
AU - Anjali Yadav
AU - Gregory Cabailh
AU - Yves Joly
AU - Lucio Martinelli
AU - Roberta Poloni
AU - Xavier Torrelles
AU - Maurizio de Santis
AU - Véronique Langlais
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Current Applied Physics
DO - 10.1016/j.cap.2026.07.001
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05773531v1
AB - The growth of ultrathin tetragonal CuO films by pulsed laser deposition was reported several years ago. In this work, we demonstrate that the same phase can be synthesized using oxygen-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We show that it remains stable up to a thickness of 6 nm, significantly exceeding the thickness range previously achieved by PLD. Using x-ray diffraction, we resolve its crystal structure and confirm that it consists of a tetragonally distorted rock-salt phase in coherent epitaxy on SrTiO 3 (001), as initially hypothesized. We precisely determine the tetragonal distortion, obtaining a c/a ratio of 1.342(2) for a 3 nm thick film. Using resonant x-ray diffraction, we also demostrate that Co can partially replace Cu without altering the crystal structure. The structural stability of this novel CuO phase upon doping is a key asset for potential future applications in both magnetism and superconductivity
SN - 1567-1739
SN - 1878-1675
ER -