Effect of Atomically-stepped Single Crystal Substrates on Surface Formation of Nanogroove Arrays after Annealing of Epitaxial Thin Films Grown at Room-temperature by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

The influence of single crystal substrates on self-organized formation of surface nanogroove arrays after annealing of room-temperature grown NiO(111) epitaxial thin films was investigated. It was found that the different structural symmetry of NiO crystal domains on adjacent atomic terraces on the atomically stepped sapphire substrates significantly affected the formation of nanogrooves.