Thermal stability of the SrTi O3 (Ba,Sr) O stacks epitaxially grown on Si

The growth of epitaxial SrTi O3 on silicon relies on the preparation of a template layer consisting of a mixture of barium oxide and strontium oxide, (Ba,Sr)O. In this letter, the limited thermal stability of this template layer is demonstrated. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal that both SrTi O3 (Ba,Sr) O and (Ba,Sr) OSi interfaces are susceptible to chemical reactions upon thermal treatment to an extent that is correlated with the thermal budget. These results have strong implications on the overall viability of (Ba,Sr)O as template for the growth of crystalline oxides on Si. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.