Diagnosis of precipitate formation in pulsed-laser deposition of\({\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{7\mathrm{-}\mathrm{\delta }}\)by means ofin situlaser-light scattering andex situatomic force microscopy

The atomically smooth SrTiO(3) (100) with steps one unit cell in height was obtained by treating the crystal surface with a pH-controlled NH(4)F-HF solution. The homoepitaxy of SrTiO(3) film on the crystal surface proceeds in a perfect layer-by-layer mode as verified by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Ion scattering spectroscopy revealed that the TiO(2) atomic plane terminated the as-treated clean surface and that the terminating atomic layer could be tuned to the SrO atomic plane by homooepitaxial growth. This technology provides a well-defined substrate surface for atomically regulated epitaxial growth of such perovskite oxide films as YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-delta).