Atomic force microscopy studies of the surface morphology of annealed single crystal substrates and substrate annealing effects on the YBa2Cu3O7-x thin film growth

The surface morphologies of yttria-stabilised ZrO₂ (YSZ) and MgO single crystal substrates annealed at high temperatures in an oxygen atmosphere have been examined by AFM. Substrate annealing effects on the growth of high T_c YBCO superconducting thin films have also been studied by preparing the thin films on the non-annealed and annealed substrates. STM image observations of the YBCO thin films show that the well-defined substrate surface conditions obtained after high temperature annealing play a dominant role in governing the film growth mechanism which determines the film’s microstructure and surface morphology.