YVO₄ Thin Film Growth with Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Single crystal Yttrium Vanadate (YVO₄) hosting rare-earth ion (REI) dopants, such as Yb³⁺ and Er³⁺, is considered a good candidate for quantum transducers. However, defects in YVO₄ single crystal and damage caused by ion implantation may compromise the REI site symmetry in YVO₄. To address this problem, we use Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) to grow YVO₄ thin films and dope YVO₄ with REIs during the growth process. The growth can precisely control level of doping and the depth of REI dopants within the film. We have successfully grown homoepitaxial and heteroepitaxial YVO₄ films on YVO₄, Al₂O₃ and LiAlO₂ substrates. In this talk, we will outline the growth process and present characterization of the grown films using reflection high energy electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. While homoepitaxy is straightforward to achieve, heteroepitaxial growth of YVO₄ on Al₂O₃ and LiAlO₂ was facilitated by atomical layering with MBE.