Thickness-Dependent Double-Epitaxial Growth in Strained SrTiCoO Films.

Perovskite-structured SrTiCoO (STCo) films of varying thicknesses were grown on SrTiO(001) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Thin films grow with a cube-on-cube epitaxy, but for films exceeding a critical thickness of about 120 nm, a double-epitaxial microstructure was observed, in which (110)-oriented crystals nucleated within the (001)-oriented STCo matrix, both orientations being epitaxial with the substrate. The crystal structure, strain state, and magnetic properties are described as a function of film thickness. Both the magnetic moment and the coercivity show maxima at the critical thickness. The formation of a double-epitaxial microstructure provides a mechanism for strain relief in epitaxially mismatched films.