Wet etching methods for perovskite substrates

In oxide electronics substrates with atomically flat terraces are a request for growing high-quality epitaxial thin films. In this paper results on chemical etching of some substrates with perovskite, ABO3, structure (e.g., SrTiO3, LSAT - the (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.35 solid solution, and NdGaO3) are presented. In order to obtain high quality substrates, different etchants (NH4F + HF, HCl + NH4Cl, and HCl + HNO3) with various pH values have been studied. From Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), in air, we conclude that, irrespective of the etchant that has been used, a substrate surface with a BOx terminated layer and atomically flat terraces without etch pits could be obtained. The pH-value and temperature of the etchant and the etching time, however, influence significantly the surface quality. Reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns confirmed the AFM results.