Optical study of the free-carrier response of LaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices

We used infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry to investigate the electronic properties of LaTiO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} superlattices (SLs). Our results indicated that, independent of the SL periodicity and individual layer thickness, the SLs exhibited a Drude metallic response with sheet carrier density per interface approximately 3x10;{14} cm;{-2}. This is probably due to the leakage of d electrons at interfaces from the Mott insulator LaTiO3 to the band insulator SrTiO3. We observed a carrier relaxation time approximately 35 fs and mobility approximately 35 cm;{2} V-1 s;{-1} at 10 K, and an unusual temperature dependence of carrier density that was attributed to the dielectric screening of quantum paraelectric SrTiO3.     

Effect of Terraces at the Interface on the Structural and Physical Properties of La_(0.8)Sr_(0.2)MnO_3 Thin Films

Employing atomic force microscopy,transmission electron microscopy and the second harmonic generation technique,we carefully explore the structural properties of 6-unit-cell-thick La_(0.8)Sr_(0.2)MnO_3 films grown on SrTiO_3 with atomically flat TiO_2-terminated terraces on the surface.The results clearly demonstrate that the terraces on the surface of TiO_2-terminated SrTiO_3 can improve the layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of the manganite films,which results in uniform film coverage at the beginning of growth and thus reduces the substrate-induced disorder at or near the interface.Comparing the magnetic and transport properties of La_(0.8)Sr_(0.2)MnO_3 films with the thicknesses varying from 6 unit cells to 80 unit cells grown respectively on as-received SrTiO_3 and TiO_2-terminated SrTiO_3,it is found that these atomically flat terraces on the surface of TiO_2-terminated SrTiO_3 can greatly enhance the Curie temperature and conductivities of the ultrathin La_(0.8)Sr_(0.2)MnO_3 films with thickness less than 50 unit cells,while no obvious difference is detected in the magnetic and transport properties of the 80unit-cell thick films.     

Electric gating of the multichannel conduction in LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 superlattices

The electric gating on the transport properties of two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG) at the interface of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃(LAO/STO) heterostructure has attracted great research interest due to its potential application in fieldeffect devices. Most of previous works of gate effect were focused on the LAO/STO heterostructure containing only one conductive interface. Here, we systematically investigated the gate effect on high-quality LAO/STO superlattices(SLs)fabricated on the TiO₂-terminated(001) STO substrates. In addition to the good metallicity of all SLs, we found that there are two types of charge carriers, the majority carriers and the minority carriers, coexisting in the SLs. The sheet resistance of the SLs with a fixed thickness of the LAO layer increases monotonically as the thickness of the STO layer increases. This is derived from the dependence of the minority carrier density on the thickness of STO. Unlike the LAO/STO heterostructure in which minority and majority carriers are simultaneously modulated by the gate effect, the minority carriers in the SLs can be tuned more significantly by the electric gating while the density of majority carriers is almost invariable. Thus, we consider that the minority carriers may mainly exist in the first interface near the STO substrate that is more sensitive to the back-gate voltage, and the majority carriers exist in the post-deposited STO layers. The SL structure provides the space separation for the multichannel conduction in the 2 DEG, which opens an avenue for the design of field-effect devices based on LAO/STO heterostructure.     

Electrical property effect of oxygen vacancies in the heterojunction of LaGaO_3/SrTiO_3

Density functional theory within the local density approximation is used to investigate the effect of the oxygen vacancy on the LaGaO_3/SrTiO_3(001) heterojunction. It is found that the energy favorable configuration is the oxygen vacancy located at the 3~(rd) layer of the STO substrate, and the antiferrodistortive distortion is induced by the oxygen vacancy introduced on the SrTiO_3 side. Compared with the heterojunction without introducing oxygen vacancy, the heterojunction with introducing the oxygen vacancy does not change the origin of the two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG), that is, the 2DEG still originates from the d_(xy) electrons, which are split from the t~(2g) states of Ti atom at interface; however the oxygen vacancy is not beneficial to the confinement of the 2DEG. The extra electrons caused by the oxygen vacancy dominantly occupy the 3d_(x~2-y~2) orbitals of the Ti atom nearest to the oxygen vacancy, thus the density of carrier is enhanced by one order of magnitude due to the introduction of oxygen vacancy compared with the density of the ideal structure heterojunction.     

Novel interface-mediated metastable oxide phases: vanadium oxides on Pd(111)

In the growth process of ultrathin films of vanadium oxides on Pd(111), a sequence of novel oxide phases with layer-dependent structures and oscillating oxidation states has been detected experimentally and understood theoretically. These phases are interface mediated and metastable with respect to further oxide growth. Transformation into the stable oxide configuration occurs beyond a critical thickness, where energetics combined with kinetic limitations determine the oxide multilayer structure.     

Critical layer thickness of GaIn(N)As(Sb) QWs on GaAs and InP substrates for (001) and (111) orientations

The aim of this work is to examine the effect of dilute nitride and/or antimonite on the critical layer thickness of GaInAs quantum wells on GaAs and InP substrates by means of Matthews and Blakeslee force model. The study provides a comparison of the critical layer thickness of the related GaIn(N)As(Sb) QWs in (001) and (111) orientation. Our calculations indicate the importance of antimonite and the proper usage of it with dilute nitrides in order to tailor the active layer thickness and emission wavelength of quantum well laser devices.     

不同组分厚度比的LaMnO3/SrTiO3异质界面电子结构和磁性的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算, 研究了(LaMnO₃)_n/(SrTiO₃)_m(LMO/STO)异质界面的离子弛豫、电子结构和磁性质. 研究表明, 不同组分厚度比及界面类型时, 离子弛豫程度各不相同, 并且界面处的电子性质受此影响较大. 对于n型界面, 当LMO的厚度达到6个单胞层后, 电子会从LMO转移到STO, 转移的电子占据界面层Ti原子的3d电子轨道, 界面处出现二维电子气. 对于n型界面(LMO)_n/(STO)₂, 随着LMO厚度数n的增加, 由离子弛豫造成的结构畸变减小, 而界面处Ti原子周围电子的态密度和自旋极化却增大, 表明高厚度比的n型界面有利于产生高迁移率的二维电子气和自旋极化. 而对于p型(LMO)₂/(STO)₈界面, 在STO一侧基本没有结构畸变, 界面处无电子转移和自旋极化现象. 通过计算平均静电势发现n型和p型界面处的势差大小相差2 eV, 解释了p型界面不容易发生电荷转移的原因.     

Structure of SrTiO3 films on Si

The epitaxial deposition of oxides on silicon opens the possibility of incorporating their diverse properties into silicon-device technology. Deposition of SrTiO(3) on silicon was first reported over a decade ago, but growing the coherent, lattice-matched films that are critical for many applications has been difficult for thicknesses beyond 5 unit cells. Using a combination of density functional calculations and x-ray diffraction measurements, we determine the atomic structure of coherent SrTiO(3) films on silicon, finding that the Sr concentration at the interface varies with the film thickness. The structures with the lowest computed energies best match the x-ray diffraction. During growth, Sr diffuses from the interface to the surface of the film; the increasing difficulty of Sr diffusion with film thickness may cause the disorder seen in thicker films. The identification of this unique thickness-dependent interfacial structure opens the possibility of modifying the interface to improve the thickness and quality of metal oxide films on silicon.     

Polar discontinuity doping of the LaVO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} interface

We have investigated the transport properties of LaVO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} Mott-insulator-band-insulator heterointerfaces for various configurations. The (001)-oriented n-type VO_{2}/LaO/TiO_{2} polar discontinuity is conducting, exhibiting a LaVO3 thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition and low temperature anomalous Hall effect. The (001) p-type VO_{2}/SrO/TiO_{2} interface, formed by inserting a single layer of bulk metallic SrVO3 or SrO, drives the interface insulating. The (110) heterointerface is also insulating, indicating interface conduction arising from electronic reconstructions.     

Angle-resolved photoemission study of Pd(111) and Co/Pd(111)

Electronic structure of epitaxial Co films on Pd(111) has been investigated as a function of the Co overlayer thickness, by using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). It is found that experimental band structures for Pd(111) and work functions for Co/Pd(111) agree reasonably well with the results of band structure calculations. Compared to Pd(111), valence band ARPES spectra of Co/Pd(111) support the existence of the induced magnetic polarization of Pd atoms near the interface, suggesting large hybridization between Co 3d and Pd 4d states near the interface.     

Epitaxial growth and magnetic exchange anisotropy in Fe3O4<Emphasis Type="Bold">/NiO bilayers grown on MgO(001) and Al</Emphasis>2O3(0001)

Epitaxial Fe3O4/NiO bilayers were epitaxially grown on MgO(001) and Al2O3(0001) substrates to investigate the influence of the fully spin compensated (001) and the non-compensated (111) NiO interface planes between the ferromagnetic (F) and antiferromagnetic (AF) layers on the AF/F exchange coupling. Bilayers of different magnetite thicknesses and constant NiO thickness were investigated. The structural characterizations indicate a perfect epitaxy of the two layers for the both growth directions in the two Fe3O4/NiO/MgO(001) and NiO/Fe3O4/Al2O3(0001) systems. An epitaxial ferrimagnetic (Ni,Fe)Fe2O4 phase is observed at the AF/F interface when the NiO oxide is grown on the top of the Fe3O4 layer while a perfectly flat AF/F interface is observed in the Fe3O4/NiO/MgO(001) system exhibiting only a very slight interdiffusion. Magnetic measurements indicate a relative strong bias at 300 K for the bilayers grown on Al2O3(0001), which decreases with the inverse of the ferrimagnetic layer thickness as theoretically expected. On the contrary, a zero exchange biasing is observed at 300 K for the bilayers grown on MgO(001).     

Evolution of the interfacial structure of LaAlO3 on SrTiO3

The evolution of the atomic structure of LaAlO_{3} grown on SrTiO_{3} was investigated using surface x-ray diffraction in conjunction with model-independent, phase-retrieval algorithms between two and five monolayers film thickness. A depolarizing buckling is observed between cation and oxygen positions in response to the electric field of polar LaAlO_{3}, which decreases with increasing film thickness. We explain this in terms of competition between elastic strain energy, electrostatic energy, and electronic reconstructions. Based on these structures, the threshold for formation of a two-dimensional electron system at a film thickness of 4 monolayers is quantitatively explained. The findings are also qualitatively reproduced by density-functional-theory calculations.     

In-plane anisotropy in two-dimensional electron gas at LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3(110) interface

A systematic study of the two-dimensional electron gas at La AlO_3/SrTiO_3(110) interface reveals an anisotropy along two specific directions, [001] and 1ī0. The anisotropy becomes distinct for the interface prepared under high oxygen pressure with low carrier density. Angular dependence of magnetoresistance shows that the electron confinement is stronger along the 1ī0 direction. Gate-tunable magnetoresistance reveals a clear in-plane anisotropy of the spin–orbit coupling,and the spin relaxation mechanism along both directions belongs to D'yakonov–Perel'(DP) scenario. Moreover, in-plane anisotropic superconductivity is observed for the sample with high carrier density, the superconducting transition temperature is lower but the upper critical field is higher along the 1ī0 direction. This in-plane anisotropy could be ascribed to the anisotropic band structure along the two crystallographic directions.     

Contribution of Surface Defects to the Interface Conductivity of SrTiO_3/LaAlO_3

Based on the first-principles method,the structural stability and the contribution of point defects such as O,Sr or Ti vacancies on two-dimensional electron gas of n-and p-type LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 interfaces are investigated.The results show that O vacancies at p-type interfaces have much lower formation energies,and Sr or Ti vacancies at n-type interfaces are more stable than the ones at p-type interfaces under O-rich conditions.The calculated densities of states indicate that O vacancies act as donors and give a significant compensation to hole carriers,resulting in insulating behavior at p-type interfaces.In contrast,Sr or Ti vacancies tend to trap electrons and behave as acceptors.Sr vacancies are the most stable defects at high oxygen partial pressures,and the Sr vacancies rather than Ti vacancies are responsible for the insulator-metal transition of n-type interface.The calculated results can be helpful to understand the tuned electronic properties of LaAlO_2/SrTiO_3 heterointerfaces.     

Observation of Tunneling Gap in Epitaxial Ultrathin Films of Pyrite-Type Copper Disulfide

We report scanning tunneling microscopy investigation on epitaxial ultrathin films of pyrite-type copper disulfide.Layer-by-layer growth of CuS_(2 )films with a preferential orientation of(111)on SrTiO_3(001)and Bi_2Sr_2Ca Cu_2O_(8+)substrates is achieved by molecular beam epitaxy growth.For ultrathin films on both kinds of substrates,we observe symmetric tunneling gap around the Fermi level that persists up to~15 K.The tunneling gap degrades with either increasing temperature or increasing thickness,suggesting new matter states at the extreme twodimensional limit.     

第一性原理研究3C-SiC/Mg复合材料界面的电子结构

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理平面波赝势方法对4种3C-SiC(111)/Mg(0001)界面模型进行研究.界面间距和粘附功的计算表明,结构优化之后的界面模型只在z轴方向发生了移动,界面间距发生了不同程度的缩短;中心型模型的稳定性强于顶位型模型,C终端结构的稳定性强于Si终端结构,中心型C终端的界面模型具有最大的粘附功(2.5834 J/m~2)和最小的界面间距(1.7193?),是4种模型中最稳定的结构. Mulliken电荷、电荷密度分布、差分电荷密度和态密度的计算表明,中心性结构的Si终端和C终端模型界面处存在共价键、离子键和金属键.     

Interface effects on the quantum well states of Pb thin films

Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we have studied the interface effect on quantum well states of Pb thin films grown on various metal-terminated (Pb, Ag, and Au) n-type Si(111) surfaces and on two different p-type Si(111) surfaces. The dispersion relation E(k) of the electrons of the Pb film and the phase shift at the substrate interface were determined by applying the quantization rule to the measured energy positions of the quantum well states. Characteristic features in the phase shift versus energy curves were identified and were correlated to the directional conduction band of the silicon substrate and to the Schottky barrier formed between the metal film and the semiconductor. A model involving the band structure of the substrate, the Schottky barrier, and the effective thickness of the interface was introduced to qualitatively but comprehensively explain all the observed features of the phase shift at the substrate interface. Our physical understanding of the phase shift is critically important for using interface modification to control the quantum well states.     

Review of photoresponsive properties at SrTiO_3-based heterointerfaces

The two-dimensional electron gas at SrTiO_3-based heterointerfaces has received a great deal of attention in recent years owing to their potential for the exploration of emergent physics and the next generation of electronics. One of the most fascinating aspects in this system is that the light, as a powerful external perturbation, can modify its transport properties. Recent studies have reported that SrTiO3-based heterointerfaces exhibit the persistent photoconductivity and can be tuned by the surface and interface engineering. These researches not only reveal the intrinsic physical mechanisms in the photoresponsive process, but also highlight the ability to be used as a tool for novel all-oxide optical devices. This review mainly contraposes the studies of photoresponse at SrTiO_3-based heterointerfaces.     

Mg2+、Al3+离子增强SrTiO3:Pr3+荧光体发光性能的研究

采用溶胶凝胶法成功制备了SrTiO3:Pr3+、SrTiO3:Pr3+, Mg2+及SrTiO3:Pr3+,Al3+荧光粉.通过XRD、PL谱及第一性原理计算对样品的晶体结构、光谱特性及发光增强机制进行了研究.研究结果表明:共掺杂后,SrTiO3:Pr3+荧光粉为单一组成的SrTiO3立方相,主发射锋位于617 nm,对应于Pr3+离子的1D2→3H4跃迁发射.SrTiO3:Pr3+,Mg2+ 及SrTiO3:Pr3+, Al3+荧光粉的发光强度分别是SrTiO3:Pr3+荧光粉发光强度的7倍和2倍,但主要发光机制没有改变.Mulliken布局分析表明,Mg2+、Al3+离子的掺入使SrTiO3:Pr3+荧光粉中Ti-O及Pr-O键的化学键增强、键长变短,SrTiO3:Pr3+基质向Pr3+离子发光中心的能量传递效率提高,导致SrTiO3:Pr3+,Mg2+ 及SrTiO3:Pr3+,Al3+荧光粉的发光效率提高.