Graphoepitaxy of CeO2 on MgO and its application to the fabrication of 45° grain boundary Josephson junctions of YBa2Cu3O7−<i>x</i>

Abstract

We communicate a detailed study of the epitaxial growth of CeO2 on MgO. The key feature of the growth is the dependence of the in-plane orientation of the CeO2 epitaxial layer on the MgO surface morphology. Atomic force microscopic (AFM) measurements, x-ray analyses, as well as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) investigations reveal that on rough substrates a cube-on-cube growth of CeO2 on MgO occurs while on smooth substrates the CeO2 unit cell is rotated around the surface normal by 45° with respect to the MgO unit cell when the deposition rate is low (∼0.3 Å/s) during the first stages of growth. This growth mechanism can be used for a defined fabrication of 45° grain boundaries in the CeO2 layer by controlling the surface roughness of the MgO substrate. This report demonstrates that these 45° grain boundaries may be used to fabricate YBa2Cu3O7−x Josephson junctions.