Electronic conductivity and structural distortion at the interface between insulators SrTiO3and LaAlO3

✍ Scribed by Maurice, J.-L. ;Carrétéro, C. ;Casanove, M.-J. ;Bouzehouane, K. ;Guyard, S. ;Larquet, É. ;Contour, J.-P.

• Book ID: 105364394
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 345 KB
• Volume: 203
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8965
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.200690015

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Polar interfaces, if abrupt, theoretically create diverging electro‐static potentials. In practice, atomic or electronic reconstructions occur. In the case of the polar (001) interface between the insula‐tors LaAlO~3~ and SrTiO~3~ pictured here, such reconstructions may be the origin of a significant conductivity. This high‐resolution transmission electron microscope (HR‐TEM) image from our Editor's Choice [1] has been recorded with an aberration‐corrected TEM, so that the deformations in the image of the interface are directly related to deformations in the interface itself. The image on the left hand side is the original image, in the middle is its Fourier transform, and on the right‐hand side is the map of the modulus of the 002 Fourier vector. The darker region in this map indicates an elongation of the unit cell at the interface. Such a deformation is correlated to strong band structure changes at the interface.

Jean‐Luc Maurice is scientist at the Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales in Palaiseau. Marie‐José Casanove, author of the micrograph, is senior scientist at the Centre d'Elaboration des Matériaux et d'Etudes Structurales in Toulouse.

The present special issue of physica status solidi (a) is a compilation of presentations from the recent Symposium F on Interfacial Processes and Properties of Advanced Materials (IPAM05) at the E‐MRS 2005 Fall Meeting in Warsaw. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)