Formation of a strontium buffer layer on Si(001) by pulsed-laser deposition through the Sr/Si(001)(2 × 3) surface reconstruction

The formation of a ½ monolayer (ML) of strontium (Sr) on Si(001) represents the most widely used and effective passivation procedure for the epitaxial growth of strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) on Si with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In the present study, we demonstrate experimentally the possibility of preparing such a buffer layer with the pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique. In-situ analysis using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) showed surface structure evolution from two-domain (2 × 1) + (1 × 2), exhibited by the bare silicon surface, to a (3 × 2) + (2 × 3) structure at 1/6 ML Sr coverage, which is then replaced by (1 × 2) + (2 × 1) structure at ¼ ML and maintained up to ½ ML coverage. In addition, two different processes for the removal of native silicon dioxide (SiO₂) layer were studied: thermal and Sr-induced deoxidation process. Annealing above 1100 °C proved to be the most efficient in terms of carbon contamination. The results highlight the possibilities of using the PLD technique for the synthesis of an epitaxial SrTiO₃ layer on Si, needed for the integration of different functional oxides with a Si platform.