Growth-Temperature Dependence Of Conductivity At The Lacro3/Srtio3 (001) Interface

The effect of growth conditions and postgrowth treatment on the structural and electronic properties of the polar/nonpolar LaCrO3/SrTiO3 (LCO/STO) interface has been investigated. Under low oxygen partial pressure, oxygen vacancies are formed in the STO substrate resulting in metallicity with a measured sheet carrier concentration of 10(16) cm(-2). Annealing postgrowth in flowing oxygen causes the sheet carrier concentration to saturate to 10(13) cm(-2), which is consistent with the reported values of a two-dimensional gas at other polar/STO interfaces. However, growth under nonreducing growth conditions leads to insulating behavior. High-resolution synchrotron x-ray-based structural determination of the atomic-scale structures of both metallic and insulating LCO/STO interfaces shows chemical intermixing and an interfacial lattice expansion. Published by the AVS.