Two-dimensional growth of continuous Cu2O thin films by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

We present results on the in situ, two-dimensional growth (as opposed to the more commonly encountered island-coalescence mechanism) of continuous epitaxial Cu2O films on MgO(011) using dc facing-magnetron sputtering from metallic Cu targets in an oxygen/argon atmosphere. Film growth was studied as a function of deposition time and the dc power applied to the guns. Control of the latter leads to either continuous or island-/rodlike film morphologies.