TEM of ultra-thin DyBCO films deposited on TiO2 terminated SrTiO3

Using pulsed laser deposition ultra-thin DyBa2Cu3O7–x films were deposited on a single terminated (0 0 1) SrTiO3 substrate. The initial growth was studied by high-resolution electron microscopy. Two different types of interface arrangements occur and were determined as: bulk–SrO–TiO2–BaO–CuO–BaO–CuO2–Dy–CuO2–BaO–bulk and bulk–SrO–TiO2–BaO–CuO2–Dy–CuO2–BaO–CuO–BaO–bulk. This variable growth sequence causes structural shifts, resulting in antiphase boundaries with displacement vector R = [00 1/3], as well as local chemical variations.