Chemically specific termination control of oxide interfaces via layer-by-layer mean inner potential engineering

ORAL

Abstract

Creating oxide interfaces with precise chemical specificity at the atomic layer level is desired for the engineering of quantum phases and electronic applications, but highly challenging, owing partially to the lack of in situ tools to monitor the chemical composition and completeness of the surface layer during growth. Here we report the in situ observation of atomic layer-by-layer inner potential variations by analysing the Kikuchi lines during epitaxial growth of strontium titanate, providing a powerful real-time technique to monitor and control the chemical composition during growth. A model combining the effects of mean inner potential and step edge density (roughness) reveals the underlying mechanism of the complex and previously not well-understood reflection high-energy electron diffraction oscillations observed in the shuttered growth of oxide films. General rules are proposed to guide the synthesis of atomically and chemically sharp oxide interfaces, opening up vast opportunities for the exploration of intriguing quantum phenomena at oxide interfaces.

*This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant no. 2015CB654901), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11574135, 11774153, 51772143, 51672125).

–

Presenters

  • Haoying Sun

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

Authors

  • Haoying Sun

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Zhangwen Mao

    • Nanjing University

  • Tianwei Zhang

    • Nanjing University

  • Lu Han

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Tingting Zhang

    • Nanjing University

  • Xiangbin Cai

    • Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

  • Xuyun Guo

    • Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  • Yingfei Li

    • Nanjing University

  • Yipeng Zang

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Wei Guo

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Jianhui Song

    • Nanjing University

  • Dianxiang Ji

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University
    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing Univ

  • Chenyi Gu

    • College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Chao Tang

    • Nanjing University

  • Zhengbin Gu

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University

  • Ning Wang

    • Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

  • Ye Zhu

    • Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  • Darrell G. Schlom

    • Cornell University
    • Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University
    • Materials Science & Engineering, Cornell University
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering,, Cornell University
    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Cornell

  • Yuefeng Nie

    • College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University
    • Nanjing University
    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing Univ

  • Xiaoqing Pan

    • Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine