The influence of atomic structure on the formation of electrical barriers at grain boundaries in SrTiO{sub 3}
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (United States)
- Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)
- Department of Materials Science Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (United States)
An experimental atomic resolution analysis of an undoped {Sigma}5 36{degree} [001] tilt grain boundary in SrTiO{sub 3} shows that the structure contains incomplete oxygen octahedra. These incomplete octahedra act as {ital effective} oxygen vacancies and lead to a fixed, positive boundary charge. Annealing the boundary in the presence of MnO{sub 2} does not change the atomic structure of the boundary plane, and results in a high concentration of Mn{sup 3+} (acceptor) enrichment at the specific Ti{sup 4+} locations in closest proximity to the effective oxygen vacancies. This result can be explained in terms of standard charge compensation models and indicates that the formation of electrical barriers at oxide grain boundaries may be influenced by the atomic structure of the boundary plane. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 337497
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 74, Issue 18; Other Information: PBD: May 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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