We combine state-of-the-art oxide epitaxial growth by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy with transport, x-ray photoemission, and surface diffraction, along with classical and first-principles quantum mechanical modeling to investigate the nuances of insulating layer formation in otherwise high-mobility homoepitaxial n-SrTiO3(001) films. Our analysis points to charge immobilization at the buried n-SrTiO3/undoped SrTiO3(001) interface as well as within the surface contamination layer resulting from air exposure as the drivers of electronic dead-layer formation. As Fermi level equilibration occurs at the surface and the buried interface, charge trapping reduces the sheet carrier density (n2D) and renders the n-STO film insulating if n2D falls below the critical value for the metal-to-insulator transition.
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Epitaxial SrTiO 3 films with dielectric constants exceeding 25,000
SrTiO 3 (STO) is an incipient ferroelectric perovskite oxide for which the onset of ferroelectric order is suppressed by quantum fluctuations. This property results in a very large increase in static dielectric constant from ∼300 at room temperature to ∼20,000 at liquid He temperature in bulk single crystals. However, the low-temperature dielectric constant of epitaxial STO films is typically a few hundred to a few thousand. Here, we use all-epitaxial capacitors of the form n -STO/undoped STO/ n -STO (001) prepared by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy, to demonstrate intrinsic dielectric constants of an unstrained STO (001) film exceeding 25,000. We show that the n -STO/undoped STO interface plays a critically important role not previously considered in determining the dielectric properties that must be properly accounted for to determine the intrinsic dielectric constant.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2011401
- PAR ID:
- 10410950
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Volume:
- 119
- Issue:
- 23
- ISSN:
- 0027-8424
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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