Nanostructured sapphire vicinal surfaces as templates for the growth of self-organized oxide nanostructures

Elsa Thune (1) , Alexandre Boulle (1) , D. Babonneau (2) , F. Pailloux (2) , Wael Hamd (3) , René Guinebretière (1)

1 Axe 3 : organisation structurale multiéchelle des matériaux
2 LMP - Laboratoire de métallurgie physique
3 SPCTS - Science des Procédés Céramiques et de Traitements de Surface

Vicinal substrates of sapphire with miscut angle of 108 from the (0 0 1) planes towards the [1 1 0] direction have been annealed in air in the range from 1000 to 1500 8C. The behaviour of these surfaces has been characterized as a function of the temperature and the thermal treatment time by Atomic Force Microscopy observations. A thermal treatment at 1250 8C allows to stabilize a surface made of periodically spaced nanosized step-bunches. Such stepped surfaces were used as template to grow selfpatterned epitaxial oxide nanoparticles by thermal annealing of yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films produced by sol–gel dip-coating. Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy were used to study the morphology of the nanoparticles and their epitaxial relationships with the substrate.

Mots clés: Sapphire vicinal surfaces; Self-organized oxide nanostructure; AFM; GISAXS; HRTEM

Elsa Thune, Alexandre Boulle, D. Babonneau, F. Pailloux, Wael Hamd, et al.. Nanostructured sapphire vicinal surfaces as templates for the growth of self-organized oxide nanostructures. Applied Surface Science, 2009, 256, pp.924-928. ⟨10.1016/j.apsusc.2009.08.089⟩. ⟨hal-00434428⟩