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Correlating surface stoichiometry and termination in SrTiO3 films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
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The classical-to-quantum crossover in the strain-induced ferroelectric transition in SrTiO3 membranes
Mechanical strain presents an effective control over symmetry-breaking phase transitions. In quantum paralelectric SrTiO3, strain can induce ferroelectric order via modification of the local Ti potential energy landscape. However, brittle bulk materials can only withstand limited strain range (~0.1%). Taking advantage of nanoscopically-thin freestanding membranes, we demonstrate an in- situ strain-induced reversible ferroelectric transition in freestanding SrTiO3 membranes. We measure the ferroelectric order by detecting the local anisotropy of the Ti 3d orbital signature using x-ray linear dichroism at the Ti-K pre-edge, while the strain is determined by x-ray diffraction. With reduced thickness, the SrTiO3 membranes remain elastic with >1% tensile strain cycles. A robust displacive ferroelectricity appears beyond a temperature-dependent critical strain. Interestingly, we discover a crossover from a classical ferroelectric transition to a quantum regime at low temperatures, which enhances strain-induced ferroelectricity. Our results offer new opportunities to strain engineer functional properties in low dimensional quantum materials and provide new insights into the role of ferroelectric fluctuations in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3.
Revisiting the assignment of atomic charges in metal oxides based on core-level x-ray photoelectron spectra: The case of Ti in SrTiO3(001)
We demonstrate that assigning formal charges to transition metal (TM) cations based on core-level (CL) x-ray photoemission binding energies in oxides leads to physically inconsistent pictures of electronic structure. O 2p–TM 3d hybridization is well known to result in significant covalency in TM–O bonds, thereby reducing TM cation charges from their fully ionic values. However, the ionic bonding model remains the working paradigm for assigning TM CL features, and the resulting cation charges are often taken to be representative of the material under study. Here, we show that a more physically meaningful way to assign charges is to extract information about charge distributions utilizing Dirac–Hartree–Fock theory to calculate CL spectra from first principles and then use the resulting wave functions to determine charges based on orbital occupancies. TM cation charges can also be determined using density functional theory and Bader population analysis. We illustrate these two methods using the Ti 2p spectrum for SrTiO3(001) and show that the agreement between them is excellent. Significantly, the resulting Ti charge is considerably lower than the formal charge. The high degree of similarity between the Ti 2p spectrum for SrTiO3 and those for the rutile and anatase polymorphs of TiO2 suggests that the charge densities surrounding Ti in the latter materials are similar to that in SrTiO3. Taking a broader perspective, oxides containing other first-row transition metals also exhibit covalent character, leading to TM cation charges lower than the analogous fully ionic values in these materials as well.
Materials Data on SrTiO3 by Materials Project
SrTiO3 is (Cubic) Perovskite structured and crystallizes in the tetragonal I4/mcm space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Sr2+ is bonded to twelve O2- atoms to form SrO12 cuboctahedra that share corners with twelve equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, faces with six equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, and faces with eight equivalent TiO6 octahedra. There are a spread of Sr–O bond distances ranging from 2.68–2.91 Å. Ti4+ is bonded to six O2- atoms to form TiO6 octahedra that share corners with six equivalent TiO6 octahedra and faces with eight equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra. The corner-sharing octahedra tilt angles range from 0–10°. All Ti–O bond lengths are 1.98 Å. There are two inequivalent O2- sites. In the first O2- site, O2- is bonded in a 2-coordinate geometry to four equivalent Sr2+ and two equivalent Ti4+ atoms. In the second O2- site, O2- is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to four equivalent Sr2+ and two equivalent Ti4+ atoms.
Materials Data on SrTiO3 by Materials Project
SrTiO3 is (Cubic) Perovskite structured and crystallizes in the cubic Pm-3m space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Sr2+ is bonded to twelve equivalent O2- atoms to form SrO12 cuboctahedra that share corners with twelve equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, faces with six equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, and faces with eight equivalent TiO6 octahedra. All Sr–O bond lengths are 2.79 Å. Ti4+ is bonded to six equivalent O2- atoms to form TiO6 octahedra that share corners with six equivalent TiO6 octahedra and faces with eight equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 0°. All Ti–O bond lengths are 1.97 Å. O2- is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to four equivalent Sr2+ and two equivalent Ti4+ atoms.
Materials Data on SrTiO3 by Materials Project
SrTiO3 is (Cubic) Perovskite-like structured and crystallizes in the hexagonal P6_3/mmc space group. The structure is three-dimensional. there are two inequivalent Sr2+ sites. In the first Sr2+ site, Sr2+ is bonded to twelve O2- atoms to form distorted SrO12 cuboctahedra that share corners with nine SrO12 cuboctahedra, corners with three equivalent TiO6 octahedra, faces with seven SrO12 cuboctahedra, and faces with seven TiO6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 9°. There are a spread of Sr–O bond distances ranging from 2.70–3.02 Å. In the second Sr2+ site, Sr2+ is bonded to twelve O2- atoms to form SrO12 cuboctahedra that share corners with twelve SrO12 cuboctahedra, faces with six equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, and faces with eight TiO6 octahedra. There are six shorter (2.82 Å) and six longer (2.84 Å) Sr–O bond lengths. There are two inequivalent Ti4+ sites. In the first Ti4+ site, Ti4+ is bonded to six O2- atoms to form TiO6 octahedra that share corners with three equivalent SrO12 cuboctahedra, corners with three equivalent TiO6 octahedra, faces with seven SrO12 cuboctahedra, and a faceface with one TiO6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 4°. There is three shorter (1.93 Å) and three longer (2.02 Å) Ti–O bond length. In the second Ti4+ site, Ti4+ is bonded to six equivalent O2- atoms to form TiO6 octahedra that share corners with six equivalent TiO6 octahedra and faces with eight SrO12 cuboctahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 4°. All Ti–O bond lengths are 1.96 Å. There are two inequivalent O2- sites. In the first O2- site, O2- is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to four Sr2+ and two Ti4+ atoms. In the second O2- site, O2- is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to four Sr2+ and two equivalent Ti4+ atoms.
Dopant adsorption as a function of bulk concentration at a near 42º (100) twist grain boundary in SrTiO3
The enrichment of grain boundaries with dopant atoms is of critical importance for the macroscopic physical properties of materials. In thermodynamic equilibrium the Gibbs adsorption isotherm relates grain boundary excess of dopant atoms, their chemical potential in the adjacent bulk, and the respective interface energy. This study has used bicrystals with a near 42º (100) twist grain boundary in SrTiO3 to demonstrate that different kinetic pathways of Fe dopant atom additions converge towards comparable grain boundary configurations. Despite differences in bulk chemical potentials remarkably similar grain boundary excess quantities were observed. The experimental results indicate the general experimental feasibility to establish quantitative relationships between variations of grain boundary energy, interfacial excess, and overall dopant concentration. Improved experimental counting statistics are needed to distinguish solute interface excess as a function of bulk chemical potential.
Stoichiometry-dependent surface electronic structure of SrTiO3 films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
We investigate the surface electronic structure of SrTiO3 (STO) films grown by a hybrid molecular beam epitaxy that are both stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Increasing the fraction of the surface that is terminated with an SrO layer is correlated with a decrease in the chemical potential whereby the valence band maximum moves closer to the Fermi level, but without a significant change in the bandgap. Inasmuch as SrO-terminated STO (001) has previously been shown to act as an electron scavenger in which carriers from the bulk are trapped, we argue that the high fraction of SrO in the terminal layer is what lowers the chemical potential in Sr-rich STO. Our experimental results provide important insights into various physical phenomena that can occur on STO (001) surfaces and their effect on bulk electronic properties.
Strain effects on stability of topological ferroelectric polar configurations in (PbTiO3) n /(SrTiO3) n superlattices
The (PbTiO3)n/(SrTiO3)n (PTO/STO) superlattice system has been shown to exhibit interesting topological phases (e.g., vortices and skyrmions) in addition to normal ferroelectric domain states. Existing studies are mostly focused on the dependence of topological polar distributions and properties of PTO/STO superlattice on its periodicity. Here, we study the strain effect on the topological phase transitions and ferroelectric domain structures employing phase-field simulations. We summarized in an isotropic strain (in-plane misfit strain along the x direction is equal to that along the y direction) periodicity phase diagram displaying the stability regions of different polar topological states, including normal ferroelectric twins, vortices, skyrmions, and mixtures of vortices and twins. We also analyzed the polarization configurations under anisotropic in-plane strains (in-plane misfit strain along the x direction is not equal to that along the y direction) and demonstrated that the strain anisotropy can be used to tune the directions of vortex arrays along either the [100] pc or [010] pc directions or labyrinth vortex arrays. This work offers guidance to manipulating polar structures in the PTO/STO superlattices via strain engineering.
Resistive Switching in SrFeO2.5/Nb:SrTiO3 Heterostructures with Growth-Controlled Film Orientation
Resistive switching, a behavior found in many oxide materials, has the potential to enable emerging computer hardware technologies and architectures. We present resistive switching devices fabricated from epitaxial brownmillerite SrFeO2.5 films with two distinct film orientations, wherein facile oxygen ion diffusion planes are aligned parallel (in-plane) and perpendicular (out-of-plane) with the electrodes. SrFeO2.5 films were grown on (001) oriented Nb:SrTiO3 to enable high-quality interfaces and future integration with Si CMOS technologies. Post-growth vacuum annealing and growth pressure were used to control film orientations, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction measurements. Films grown with diffusion planes oriented in-plane had oxygen-rich, perovskite-like nanodomains spread throughout the film, and fabricated devices exhibited worse switching consistency and more stochasticity. In contrast, films grown with diffusion planes oriented out-of-plane had a more uniform oxygen-rich perovskite interfacial layer above the bottom electrode, and devices built from this film orientation showed significant statistical improvements in switching voltages and cycling consistency.
Observations of unexpected grain boundary migration in SrTiO[subscript 3]
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Strain-induced room-temperature ferroelectricity in SrTiO3 membranes
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Quenched lattice fluctuations in optically driven SrTiO3
Abstract Crystal lattice fluctuations, which are known to influence phase transitions of quantum materials in equilibrium, are also expected to determine the dynamics of light-induced phase changes. However, they have only rarely been explored in these dynamical settings. Here we study the time evolution of lattice fluctuations in the quantum paraelectric SrTiO 3 , in which mid-infrared drives have been shown to induce a metastable ferroelectric state. Crucial in these physics is the competition between polar instabilities and antiferrodistortive rotations, which in equilibrium frustrate the formation of long-range ferroelectricity. We make use of high-intensity mid-infrared optical pulses to resonantly drive the Ti–O-stretching mode at 17 THz, and we measure the resulting change in lattice fluctuations using time-resolved X-ray diffuse scattering at a free-electron laser. After a prompt increase, we observe a long-lived quench in R-point antiferrodistortive lattice fluctuations. Their enhancement and reduction are theoretically explained by considering the fourth-order nonlinear phononic interactions to the driven optical phonon and third-order coupling to lattice strain, respectively. These observations provide a number of testable hypotheses for the physics of light-induced ferroelectricity.
Epitaxial growth of conducting perovskite SrTiO3 on (0001) c-axis sapphire using a γ-Al2O3 intermediate layer
Epitaxial growth of complex oxides on large-area wafers, such as sapphire and silicon, represents a key step toward scalable oxide device production. Solid phase epitaxy allows the synthesis of γ-Al 2 O 3 on α-Al 2 O 3 and provides a template with a matched lattice constant and appropriate cubic symmetry for subsequent heteroepitaxial growth of perovskite complex oxides. Nb-doped SrTiO 3 thin films were deposited epitaxially on (111)-oriented γ-Al 2 O 3 intermediate layers on (0001) c-axis-oriented sapphire α-Al 2 O 3 crystals using pulsed laser deposition. The Nb:SrTiO 3 thin films with a thickness of 53 nm, grown at 700 °C on γ-Al 2 O 3 , reached fully relaxed lattice parameters and were epitaxially oriented with respect to the substrate. Nb:SrTiO 3 layers deposited using identical deposition conditions directly on α-Al 2 O 3 , without the γ-Al 2 O 3 intermediate layer, were polycrystalline. The sheet conductivity of Nb:SrTiO 3 grown on γ-Al 2 O 3 /α-Al 2 O 3 is more than ten times higher than that of Nb:SrTiO 3 grown directly on α-Al 2 O 3 without the γ-Al 2 O 3 layer. The results point to new directions for the integration of (111)-oriented pseudocubic perovskite complex oxides and the integration of epitaxial complex oxides over larger areas using α-Al 2 O 3 single-crystal substrates.