Alleviating polarity-conflict at the heterointerfaces of KTaO{sub 3}/GdScO{sub 3} polar complex-oxides

Journal Article · Mon Sep 08 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895392· OSTI ID:22310838

Thompson, J.; Nichols, J.; Connell, J. G.; Seo, S. S. A., ^[1]; Hwang, J.; Stemmer, S. ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506 (United States)
2. Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)

We have synthesized and investigated the heterointerfaces of KTaO{sub 3} (KTO) and GdScO{sub 3} (GSO), which are both polar complex-oxides along the pseudo-cubic [001] direction. Since their layers have the same, conflicting net charges at interfaces, i.e., KO(−1)/ScO{sub 2}(−1) or TaO{sub 2}(+1)/GdO(+1), forming the heterointerface of KTO/GSO should be forbidden due to strong Coulomb repulsion, the so-called polarity conflict. However, we have discovered that atomic reconstruction occurs at the heterointerfaces between KTO thin-films and GSO substrates, which effectively alleviates the polarity conflict without destroying the hetero-epitaxy. Our result demonstrates one of the important ways to create artificial heterostructures from polar complex-oxides.

• OSTI ID: 22310838
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COULOMB FIELD
EPITAXY
GADOLINIUM COMPOUNDS
GADOLINIUM OXIDES
INTERFACES
LAYERS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
SCANDIUM COMPOUNDS
SUBSTRATES
TANTALATES
THIN FILMS