Selected-area sputter epitaxy of iron-garnet films

Abstract
The growth of single-crystal bismuth iron-garnet films by in situ sputter epitaxy has been extended to ‘‘selected-area sputter epitaxy’’ (SASE) where epitaxial growth is locally impeded by low-energy (102 eV) ion bombardment of the substrate from an argon plasma before film deposition. Then, in a critical range of substrate temperatures, a pattern of epitaxial and amorphous patches evolves during deposition with high geometrical resolution. The optical and structural properties of both SASE phases are investigated.