Reflection High - Energy Electron Diffraction oscillations during epitaxial growth of artificially layered films of ( BaCuO x ) m / ( CaCuO

Pulsed Laser Deposition in molecular-beam epitaxy environment (Laser-MBE) has been used to grow high quality BaCuO x /CaCuO 2 superlattices. In situ Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) shows that the growth mechanism is 2-dimensional. Furthermore, weak but reproducible RHEED intensity oscillations have been monitored during the growth. Ex-situ x-ray diffraction spectra confirmed the growth rate deduced from RHEED oscillations. Such results demonstrate that RHEED oscillations can be used, even for (BaCuO x) 2 /(CaCuO 2) 2 superlattices, for phase locking of the growth. In 1981, the first observation [1] of oscillations in the RHEED intensity during the epitax-ial growth of GaAs, offered a new tool to control thin film growth with atomic layer precision. In the last few years several research groups have been able to use this powerful diagnostic technique, in situ, in combination with Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), i.e. the Laser MBE technique, to obtain the two-dimensional (2D) growth of artificial materials otherwise difficult or impossible to synthesise. The advantage of the Laser MBE technique is due to the 1