Process-specific information (LSMO/STO):
Growth pressure – 100mTorr
Laser energy – 300mJ/pulse (this is the energy at the laser – the energy at the target must be measured directly)
Laser rep. rate – 5Hz
Substrate temperature – 750C
Target raster settings : -12/+15
Pre-ablation: 2000 pulses. If you are growing multiple samples in one day, you can use less (say 1000)

Before entering the cleanroom:
-	Check the nitrogen and oxygen bottle pressures – these should both be above 500PSI (middle gauge). Inform someone from SRF if they are below this as the bottles need to be changed.
-	Open the oxygen bottle valve.

Sample Preparation:
-	As-received substrates cannot be grown on. SrTiO3 substrates will need to follow the anneal + DI water treatment + 2nd anneal process [Connel et al. APL 101, 251607, (2012).] to achieve TiO2-terminated terraces. Annealing time is 1 hour at 1000C with a 5deg/minute heating and cooling rate. This is program #14 on the furnace in Dr. Lederman’s lab (while it is still here). As of August 2016, we do not currently have a process for other substrates.
-	Substrates must be cleaned prior to treatment – a suggestion is sonication 10 minutes in acetone followed by 10 minutes in isopropanol. Verify that there are no visible spots of dirt on the substrate.
-	Prior to growth, substrates must be quickly rinsed in DI water to remove any leftover SrO islands on the surface – a 45 second rinse in DI water is sufficient. This can be done by shaking the sample in DI water with tweezers. Sonication is not necessary.
-	Obtain a PLD sample holder from the dry preparation hood in the cleanroom. Sand the holder with sandpaper until the surface is clear of any deposited material or silver paint.
-	Place a small amount of silver paint on the holder. 
-	Place the sample on the silver paint. You may want to move it around a little to ensure that the silver paste covers the back. It is OK if the paste covers the sides of the sample. It is not OK if it covers the top – remove and clean your sample if this occurs. Once the sample is heated, the silver paint will not come off. (Try to position your sample in the same spot each time – this will make setting up RHEED easier.)
-	Set the hotplate in the photolithography room to 150C. Place the sample/holder on the hot plate for (about) 5 minutes. Remove the holder and allow it to cool on the metal of the fume hood. Verify that the sample is stuck on by lightly shaking the mount.

Powering up the RHEED system:
This can be started at any time and can be done while (for example) waiting for the system to pump down. The RHEED system needs to be warmed up by bringing the voltage to 20KV (this setting may change as we are experiencing noise issues with our signal) and 1.2A and letting it sit for one hour. After 1 hour, the current may be increased to 1.55A. This is to protect the lifetime of the filament.
Turn on the RHEED system: 
o	Turn on the power supply then the deflection unit. 
o	Open the RHEED gate valve by going to System Vacuum and clicking the RHEED valve symbol (above the main chamber). Open the RHEED window by turning the black knob on the KSA box counterclockwise.
o	Begin increasing the voltage on the power supply. A suggested rate is 0.1 div/second. Monitor the current (IE) on the left. Do not let the current exceed ~0.5uA. After every 5KV, stop and wait 5 minutes. The voltage/current reading may fluctuate a bit during warm up.
o	Once the voltage is set, begin increasing the current at a rate of ~ 0.01 div/sec until you reach the desired setting.
o	Open the KSA software from the desktop and select the live video icon. 
o	Open the scope by turning the knob on the KSA box, and disable the beam blanking on the RHEED controller (if beam blanking is enabled, the light will be flashing).
o	You should have either my RHEED controller settings or your own from your own run to allow you to quickly find the sample. Adjust your settings to obtain an image.
o	If you don’t have any settings and can’t find the beam: 
•	Begin aligning the beam. First find the beam using the X1/Y1 and X2/Y2 controls. Adjust 	the X1/Y1 controls so that the beam is circular. Then use the X2/Y2 controls to move your beam onto the sample. Use the grid/focus to adjust brightness/contrast of the image. Be careful to monitor IE. It should not exceed +/- 0.5 uA. Control the substrate orientation from the Substrate Rotation Motor menu. If you are away from a high-symmetry direction, you may not see much of a pattern, so try rotating the sample to see if you can get a better image.
o	Monitor the emission current – it shouldn’t go above 0.01 or so. This should be enough to obtain a bright image.
o	When you have obtained a satisfactory pattern, press Acquire -> Single Image. You can then save this as a .png for use outside of the program. 

Transferring Sample:
-	Bring the loadlock up to atmospheric pressure as follows: In the Pulsed Energy Deposition (PED) software, go to Manual Control -> Pfeiffer Turbo Control. Select Load Lock from the top of the page. Be sure Main Chamber is not selected as the window looks nearly the same.
-	Set the following controls:
o	Pumping station -> Off
o	Venting Mode -> Automatic
o	Computer Vent -> Enable
-	Unscrew the black cap on the door to the load lock. Wait until pressure reaches ~740 torr then open.
-	Remove the sample holder ring from the load lock and place the holder inside the ring.
-	Place the sample holder and ring in the transferring arm. Close the door (checking to make sure the o-ring is sealed in place) and tighten the screw.
-	Pump down the load lock. Go back to the Pfeiffer Turbo Control and set these controls:
o	-Pumping station -> On
o	-Venting Mode -> Do not vent
o	-Computer Vent -> Off
-	Wait until the load lock pressure reaches 5 x 10-6 torr. Open Manual Control -> System Vacuum. Click the red valve symbol between the load lock and main chamber. Click open in the next dialog. You will hear the valve open and the valve symbol will turn green.
-	Push the transfer arm inside the main chamber and gently place the sample on the stage. Then retract the transfer arm. Verify that the sample holder is flat on the sample stage. Close the loadloack valve afterwards. Note that you may encounter some resistance from the transfer arm – you should not have to use force to move it. Instead, try rotating it to some other position and gently pushing until it moves forward.
-	Go back to the Substrate Z-Shift Motor menu. In the Move to Desired Position box, enter 32.0mm. This will bring the heater down onto the sample.
-	Close the heater shutter from the System Shutters menu.

Growth Process:
-	If you are growing in oxygen, the turbo speed needs to be adjusted to prevent damage to the system. Go back to the System Vacuum menu and select Main Chamber. Change the turbo speed from 820 Hz to 200 Hz (for 100 mTorr oxygen – the 200Hz is for the post-anneal at higher pressure), It will take 20-30 minutes to spin down.
-	While you wait, begin rastering the targets to warm up the motor. Go to Manual Control ->Target Motor. Under raster type, select your target (e.g. LSMO). Enter positive and negative raster angles (this will change depending on which holder the target is in) and choose a rotation speed that is a prime number (e.g. 31 deg/min). This is to make sure the target is ablated as uniformly as possible and that the same place is not ablated twice. Do not enter a minus sign in the negative raster box.
-	AFTER the turbo spins down, introduce oxygen into the chamber. Be sure the oxygen valve on the wall is open. Go to Manual Control -> Mass Flow Control. Choose Control Type -> Auto Mass. Enter 100% in MFC-1 Oxygen. Enter the desired oxygen pressure in mTorr. Click Start Mass Flow Control. Watch the flow rate to make sure it is between 100 and 200 sccm.
-	Start heating the sample. Go to Manual Control -> Heaters and choose the desired set point. Suggested settings are 20deg/min for temperatures below 600 and 15deg/min for temperatures above.
-	Turn on the laser. Turn the red button in the back clockwise. Then turn the key to the left of it. Wait until it goes through its self-test (about ten minutes).
-	When the self-test has completed, go to the laser controller and press run/stop, then enter, then execute. 
-	Turn on the laser in use sign on the wall and put on the orange laser goggles.
-	Press Mode and select EGY-NGR. Enter the desired laser pulse energy using the keypad and press enter. Note that the counter may show 0.00mJ as the pulse energy after you do this – this is normal – when you start firing the laser, the counter will show your desired energy.
-	The laser should warm up about ten minutes before growing/pre-ablating.
-	Begin pre-ablation (to remove contamination from target surface). Be sure that the heater shutter is closed. Go to Manual Control -> Laser Excimer and enter the desired values for number of pulses (a suggestion is 2000 for preablation) and pulse rate. Click Start Laser. While the pre-ablation is taking place, make sure that the target is being ablated equally on both sides from the center. If it is not, adjust your raster settings. Note the size of the plume as well – this should be consistent between runs. 
-	Prepare the RHEED software to record in-situ: go to acquire -> scan mode. Draw a line across the specular spot (or whatever the peak of interest is) and a box around the same peak. Click to start.
o	First the line shape must be optimized. If the line profile window is not open go to view-> real time line profile and adjust the grid settings so that the tip of the peak can be seen (i.e. it is not saturated). Adjust X2 and Y2 so that the signal to noise is highest and the peak is sharp. 
o	Now go to view-> real time window analysis. Adjust the grid so that the average intensity reported in the window (bottom right, I think) is about 80%. Now click stop. 
-	When you are ready to grow, go back to acquire-> scan mode. If you are recording a movie, check this box. Be sure that the source (in the source menu) is the RHEED camera, and not any other movie you may have recorded before. Be sure that the duration is set sufficiently long so that you will see the whole growth (I typically set it to 1 hour and just stop it when finished).
-	Open the heater shutter. Go back to the laser excimer menu and enter the number of pulses desired for sample growth and click Start Laser. 

After Growth
-	Shut down the laser. Press start/stop, then F10, then shut down, then enter, and then execute. Turn the main key on the back and then the red switch. 
-	Close the heater shutter again. This is to prevent surface contamination after growth.
-	Our samples will need to be post-annealed. Currently this is done at 250mTorr but this may not be sufficient. Adjust the pressure from the mass flow controller window after the growth has finished. 
-	Turn off the RHEED. Close the RHEED scope on the KSA box and close the RHEED gate valve in the System Vacuum menu. Begin powering the RHEED down by first lowering the CURRENT at a similar rate as before then the voltage, again stopping for 5 minutes after every 5 KV.
-	If you are growing a second sample, the idle state for the RHEED is 10KV/1A. Place it at these settings between runs.
-	When the heater setpoint and the actual temperature no longer follow each other (for example, the setpoint is 250 but the heater shows a temperature of 290), the heater can be disengaged from the sample. This will help your sample cool faster as well.
-	Let the sample cool in oxygen until it reaches 300C. At this point, you can shut off the oxygen. Go back to the Mass Flow Control menu and click Stop Auto Mass Flow. Go to the System Vacuum menu and change the turbo speed back to 820 Hz. Close the oxygen valve on the wall and on the tank outside the cleanroom. 
-	Stop the target rastering and rotation from the Target Control menu. Home the target motor.
-	Home the substrate rotation motor.

Removing the Sample:
-	Wait until the heater reaches ~40-50C. Open the load lock gate valve from the System Vacuum screen and push the transfer arm inside. Pick up the sample and retract the arm. Close the load lock valve. 
-	Vent the load lock in the same way as described in the above section Transferring Sample. Again, wait until the pressure reaches 720 Torr and then open the load lock and remove your sample. 
Remove the sample from the holder with tweezers and clean the holder with sandpaper until it is clean again. 
-	Pump down the loadlock again.