Independence of surface morphology and reconstruction during the thermal preparation of perovskite oxide surfaces

Using a CO2 laser to directly heat the crystals from the back side, SrTiO3 substrates may be thermally prepared in situ for epitaxy without the need for ex-situ etching and annealing. We find that the formation of large terraces with straight steps at 900–1100 °C is independent of the formation of the ideal surface reconstruction for epitaxy, which requires temperatures in excess of 1200 °C to complete. The process may be universal, at least for perovskite oxide surfaces, as it also works, at different temperatures, for LaAlO3 and NdGaO3, two other widely used oxide substrate materials.