Consequences of High Adatom Energy during Pulsed Laser Deposition of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3

The impact of the adatom energy on the stoichiometry, surface morphology, and crystalline twinning during pulsed laser deposition of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 is studied. We show that although nonthermal growth using highly energetic adatoms results in very smooth ultrathin films, it also causes preferential resputtering of Mn and a surface roughening transition with increasing film thickness. This can be circumvented by carefully tuning the adatom energy into thermal growth, resulting in more Mn rich samples and a delayed roughening transition. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the crystalline twinning can be controlled by controlling the adatom energy. Hence, a detailed control of the adatom energy during growth opens for better stoichiometry control as well as surface quality.