Surface termination effect of $$\mathrm{SrTiO_3}$$ substrate on ultrathin $$\mathrm{SrRuO_3}$$
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- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China); Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics
- Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
A uniform 1-unit-cell-high step on the SrTiO3 (STO) substrate is a prerequisite for growing high-quality epitaxial oxide heterostructures. However, it is inevitable that defects induced by mixed substrate-surface termination exist at the interface, significantly impacting the properties of ultrathin films. Here we microscopically identify the origin for the lateral inhomogeneity in the growth of ultrathin SrRuO3 films due to the step effects of SrTiO3 (001). By using atomic-resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy, we observe two distinct types of step propagation along the [011] and [$$0\bar{1}1$$] crystallographic direction in SrTiO3-SrRuO3 heterostructures, respectively. In particular, the type-II [$$0\bar{1}1$$] step results in lateral discontinuity of monolayer SrRuO3 and originates from the SrO-terminated regions along the TiO2-terminated step edge. Such an induced lateral discontinuity should be responsible for the distinct electronic and magnetic properties of monolayer SrRuO3. Our findings underscore the critical importance of using single-termination STO substrate to achieve high-quality termination-selective films and to unveil the intrinsic properties of epitaxial films in the atomic limit.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Key R&D Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0002136; SC0012704
- OSTI ID:
- 2324575
- Report Number(s):
- BNL--225378-2024-JAAM
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 8; ISSN 2475-9953
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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