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Title: Probing vacancy behavior across complex oxide heterointerfaces

Journal Article · · Science Advances

Oxygen vacancies ( V O ) play a critical role as defects in complex oxides in establishing functionality in systems including memristors, all-oxide electronics, and electrochemical cells that comprise metal-insulator-metal or complex oxide heterostructure configurations. Improving oxide-oxide interfaces necessitates a direct, spatial understanding of vacancy distributions that define electrochemically active regions. We show vacancies deplete over micrometer-level distances in Nb-doped SrTiO3(Nb:SrTiO3) substrates due to deposition and post-annealing processes. We convert the surface potential across a strontium titanate/yttria-stabilized zirconia (STO/YSZ) heterostructured film to spatial (<100 nm) vacancy profiles within STO using (T= 500°C) in situ scanning probes and semiconductor analysis. Oxygen scavenging occurring during pulsed laser deposition reduces Nb:STO substantially, which partially reoxidizes in an oxygen-rich environment upon cooling. These results (i) introduce the means to spatially resolve quantitative vacancy distributions across oxide films and (ii) indicate the mechanisms by which oxide thin films enhance and then deplete vacancies within the underlying substrate.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); UMass Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-06ER46327
OSTI ID:
1609760
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 5; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (2)

Unravelling oxygen-vacancy-induced electron transfer at SrTiO 3 -based heterointerfaces by transport measurement during growth journal October 2019
Oxygen diffusion in oxide thin films grown on SrTi O 3 journal December 2019