Epitaxial strain and its relaxation at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
Abstract
A series of LaAlO3 thin films with different thicknesses were deposited by pulsed laser deposition at temperatures from 720°C to 800°C. The results from grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and reciprocal space mapping indicate that a thin layer of LaAlO3 adjacent to the SrTiO3 substrate remains almost coherently strained to the substrate, while the top layer starts to relax quickly above a certain critical thickness, followed by a gradual relaxation at larger film thickness when they are grown at lower temperatures. The atomic force microscopy results show that the fast relaxation is accompanied by the formation of cracks on the film surface. This can be ascribed to the larger energy release rate when compared with the resistance of LaAlO3 to cracking, according to calculations from the Griffith fracture theory. For films grown at 720°C, a drop in sheet resistance by two orders of magnitude is observed when the top layer starts to relax, indicating a relationship between the strain and the conductivity of the two-dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. The strain engineered by growth temperature thus provides a useful tool for the manipulation of the electronic properties of oxide heterointerfaces.
- Authors:
-
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Suzhou Univ. of Science and Technology, Suzhou (China). Research Center for Solid State Physics and Materials and School of Mathematics and Physics
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Material Sciences and Engineering; Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China). State Key Lab. for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures and School of Aerospace
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Material Sciences and Engineering
- Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1467869
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1328639
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0004764; DMR-1410714; CMMI-1031403; N00014-1101-0296; 11304089
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; atomic force microscopy; lattice constants; thin film growth; cracks; reflection high energy electron diffraction; stress relaxation; epitaxy; electron gas
Citation Formats
Liu, Guozhen, Lei, Qingyu, Wolak, Matthäus A., Li, Qun, Chen, Long-Qing, Winkler, Christopher, Sloppy, Jennifer, Taheri, Mitra L., and Xi, Xiaoxing. Epitaxial strain and its relaxation at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4961330.
Liu, Guozhen, Lei, Qingyu, Wolak, Matthäus A., Li, Qun, Chen, Long-Qing, Winkler, Christopher, Sloppy, Jennifer, Taheri, Mitra L., & Xi, Xiaoxing. Epitaxial strain and its relaxation at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961330
Liu, Guozhen, Lei, Qingyu, Wolak, Matthäus A., Li, Qun, Chen, Long-Qing, Winkler, Christopher, Sloppy, Jennifer, Taheri, Mitra L., and Xi, Xiaoxing. Mon .
"Epitaxial strain and its relaxation at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961330. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1467869.
@article{osti_1467869,
title = {Epitaxial strain and its relaxation at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface},
author = {Liu, Guozhen and Lei, Qingyu and Wolak, Matthäus A. and Li, Qun and Chen, Long-Qing and Winkler, Christopher and Sloppy, Jennifer and Taheri, Mitra L. and Xi, Xiaoxing},
abstractNote = {A series of LaAlO3 thin films with different thicknesses were deposited by pulsed laser deposition at temperatures from 720°C to 800°C. The results from grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and reciprocal space mapping indicate that a thin layer of LaAlO3 adjacent to the SrTiO3 substrate remains almost coherently strained to the substrate, while the top layer starts to relax quickly above a certain critical thickness, followed by a gradual relaxation at larger film thickness when they are grown at lower temperatures. The atomic force microscopy results show that the fast relaxation is accompanied by the formation of cracks on the film surface. This can be ascribed to the larger energy release rate when compared with the resistance of LaAlO3 to cracking, according to calculations from the Griffith fracture theory. For films grown at 720°C, a drop in sheet resistance by two orders of magnitude is observed when the top layer starts to relax, indicating a relationship between the strain and the conductivity of the two-dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. The strain engineered by growth temperature thus provides a useful tool for the manipulation of the electronic properties of oxide heterointerfaces.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4961330},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 8,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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