Epitaxial growth and thermodynamic stability of SrIrO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

Title

Epitaxial growth and thermodynamic stability of SrIrO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

 Author

Groenendijk, D.J. (TU Delft QN/Caviglia Lab)
Manca, N. (TU Delft QN/Caviglia Lab)
Mattoni, G. (TU Delft QN/Caviglia Lab)
Kootstra, L. (Student TU Delft)
Gariglio, S. (University of Geneva)
Huang, Y. (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Van Heumen, E. (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Caviglia, A. (TU Delft QN/Caviglia Lab) ORCID 0000-0001-9650-3371

 Date

2016

 Abstract

Obtaining high-quality thin films of 5d transition metal oxides is essential to explore the exotic semimetallic and topological phases predicted to arise from the combination of strong electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling. Here, we show that the transport properties of SrIrO3 thin films, grown by pulsed laser deposition, can be optimized by considering the effect of laser-induced modification of the SrIrO3 target surface. We further demonstrate that bare SrIrO3 thin films are subject to degradation in air and are highly sensitive to lithographic processing. A crystalline SrTiO3 cap layer deposited in-situ is effective in preserving the film quality, allowing us to measure metallic transport behavior in films with thicknesses down to 4 unit cells. In addition, the SrTiO3 encapsulation enables the fabrication of devices such as Hall bars without altering the film properties, allowing precise (magneto)transport measurements on micro- and nanoscale devices.


 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e1bc0094-a871-4f69-8db2-94874fed5453

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960101

 Embargo date

2017-07-29

 ISSN

0003-6951

 Source

Applied Physics Letters, 109 (4), 1-4

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2016 D.J. Groenendijk, N. Manca, G. Mattoni, L. Kootstra, S. Gariglio, Y. Huang, E. Van Heumen, A. Caviglia
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