Designing antiphase boundaries by atomic control of heterointerfaces
- Department of Physics &, Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803,, Condensed Matter Physics &, Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973,
- Department of Physics &, Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803,
- Department of Mechanical &, Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803,
- Condensed Matter Physics &, Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973,
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche-Superconducting and Other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute (SPIN), Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Salerno, 132 - 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Extended defects are known to have critical influences in achieving desired material performance. However, the nature of extended defect generation is highly elusive due to the presence of multiple nucleation mechanisms with close energetics. A strategy to design extended defects in a simple and clean way is thus highly desirable to advance the understanding of their role, improve material quality, and serve as a unique playground to discover new phenomena. In this work, we report an approach to create planar extended defects—antiphase boundaries (APB) —with well-defined origins via the combination of advanced growth, atomic-resolved electron microscopy, first-principals calculations, and defect theory. In La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 thin film grown on Sr2RuO4 substrate, APBs in the film naturally nucleate at the step on the substrate/film interface. For a single step, the generated APBs tend to be nearly perpendicular to the interface and propragate toward the film surface. Interestingly, when two steps are close to each other, two corresponding APBs communicate and merge together, forming a unique triangle-shaped defect domain boundary. Such behavior has been ascribed, in general, to the minimization of the surface energy of the APB. Atomic-resolved electron microscopy shows that these APBs have an intriguing antipolar structure phase, thus having the potential as a general recipe to achieve ferroelectric-like domain walls for high-density nonvolatile memory.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0002136; AC02-98CH10886; SC0012704
- OSTI ID:
- 1464332
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1480961
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-209361-2018-JAAM
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 115 Journal Issue: 38; ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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