Abstract
The surface crystallography and chemistry of a LaAlO3 single crystal, a material mainly used as a substrate to deposit technologically important thin films (e.g. for superconducting and magnetic devices), was analysed using surface X-ray diffraction and low energy ion scattering spectroscopy. The surface was determined to be terminated by Al-O species, and was significantly different from the idealised bulk structure. Termination reversal was not observed at higher temperature (600 °C) and chamber pressure of 10−10 Torr, but rather an increased Al-O occupancy occurred, which was accompanied by a larger outwards relaxation of Al from the bulk positions. Changing the oxygen pressure to 10−6 Torr enriched the Al site occupancy fraction at the outermost surface from 0.245(10) to 0.325(9). In contrast the LaO, which is located at the next sub-surface atomic layer, showed no chemical enrichment and the structural relaxation was lower than for the top AlO2 layer. Knowledge of the surface structure will aid the understanding of how and which type of interface will be formed when LaAlO3 is used as a substrate as a function of temperature and pressure, and so lead to improved design of device structures.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of the EPSRC (EP/M014142/1). Additionally, we acknowledge the support of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, who partially funded this work (S.S.P. and A.C.) We also acknowledge Diamond Light Source Ltd., U.K., for access to the I07 Surface and Interface Diffraction beamline. We thank Dr. Jonathan Rawle for assistance with the surface X-ray diffraction experiment.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.