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S. Gerhold, M. Riva, B. Yildiz, M. Schmid, U. Diebold:
"Adjusting island density and morphology of the SrTiO₃(110)-(4 × 1) surface: Pulsed laser deposition combined with scanning tunneling microscopy";
Surface Science, 651 (2016), 76 - 83.

The first stages of homoepitaxial growth of the (4 × 1) reconstructed surface of SrTiO3(110) are probed by a combination
of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and
scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Considerations of interfacing high-pressure PLD growth with ultrahigh-
vacuum surface characterization methods are discussed, and the experimental setup and procedures are
described in detail. The relation between RHEED intensity oscillations and ideal layer-by-layer growth is confirmed
by analysis of STMimages acquired after deposition of sub-monolayer amounts of SrTiO3. For a quantitative
agreement between RHEED and STM results one has to take into account two interfaces: the steps at the
circumference of islands, aswell as the borders between two different reconstruction phases on the islands themselves.
Analysis of STM images acquired after one single laser shot reveals an exponential decrease of the island
densitywith increasing substrate temperature. This behavior is also directly visible from the temperature dependence
of the relaxation times of the RHEED intensity.Moreover, the aspect ratio of islands changes considerably
with temperature. The growth mode depends on the laser pulse repetition rate, and can be tuned from predominantly
layer-by-layer to the step-flow growth regime.

STM Oxides Growth RHEED PLD