Growth and structure of Co doped tetragonal CuO films in epitaxy on STO(001)

Magnetic semiconducting thin films with high coercive field and remanence at room temperature are of primary importance for spintronic applications. We plan to
realize one of such films by doping with cobalt a tetragonal CuO layer grown in epitaxy on SrTiO3(001). This copper oxide phase was synthetized about a decade
ago by coherent epitaxy. The superexchange interaction is increased compared to the monoclinic phase, thanks to the Cu-O-Cu bonding angle of 180°. We aim at
realising a film with the desired properties by Co substitution of Cu on its crystallographic site. This could result in a strong superexchange interaction between Fe
cations, while keeping the semiconducting character of CuO.. We will use in situ non-resonant and resonant x-ray diffraction (RXD) to study the films structure.
RXD at the Co K edge allows to quantify the occupancy rate of the two cations on a same crystallographic site. At the same time GIXRD will allow to exclude the
presence of spurious phases.