• Dahl, Øystein
• Hallsteinsen, S.
• Grepstad, J. K.
• Borg, A.
• Tybell, T.

Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>In the present work we use a scanning tunneling microscope to modify the surface structure of epitaxial SrRuO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> thin films. Point and line etching experiments were carried out in ultra-highvacuum, using tungsten tips. The point etchings showed that pulses fired at small (&lt; 4.5V) bias voltages did not bring about any physical modifications of the film surface, while voltages in excess of4.5 V led to etched holes accompanied by mounds. Moreover, well-defined line etching was achieved with atypical depth of approximately two unit cells and linewidths as small as 5 nm. The experiments demonstrate that a scanning tunneling microscope can be used for nanometer-scale patterning of SrRuO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> thin film surfaces.</jats:p>

Topics

• perovskite
• surface
• experiment
• thin film
• etching
• tungsten
• scanning tunneling microscopy