Atomic Force Microscopy Studies of Barium Titanate Thin Films Prepared by Laser Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Laser molecular beam epitaxy (laser MBE) technique was utilized to grow the barium titanate (BaTiO₃, BTO) thin films on SrTiO₃(100) substrates. The surface morphology of the BaTiO₃ thin films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Two- and three-dimensional AFM images were obtained. The root mean square surface roughness, the height profile, the histogram and the bearing ratio of the height distributions for the BaTiO₃ thin films were analyzed in detail. The results indicate that the laser MBE thin films exhibit an atomically smooth surface.