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Controlled growth of complex polar oxide films with atomically precise molecular beam epitaxy

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Abstract

At heterointerfaces between complex oxides with polar discontinuity, the instability-induced electric field may drive electron redistribution, causing a dramatic change in the interfacial charge density. This results in the emergence of a rich diversity of exotic physical phenomena in these quasi-two-dimensional systems, which can be further tuned by an external field. To develop novel multifunctional electronic devices, it is essential to control the growth of polar oxide films and heterointerfaces with atomic precision. In this article, we review recent progress in control techniques for oxide film growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We emphasize the importance of tuning the microscopic surface structures of polar films for developing precise growth control techniques. Taking the polar SrTiO3 (110) and (111) surfaces as examples, we show that, by keeping the surface reconstructed throughout MBE growth, high-quality layer-by-layer homoepitaxy can be realized. Because the stability of different reconstructions is determined by the surface cation concentration, the growth rate from the Sr/Ti evaporation source can be monitored in real time. A precise, automated control method is established by which insulating homoepitaxial SrTiO3 (110) and (111) films can be obtained on doped metallic substrates. The films show atomically well-defined surfaces and high dielectric performance, which allows the surface carrier concentration to be tuned in the range of ~1013/cm2. By applying the knowledge of microstructures from fundamental surface physics to film growth techniques, new opportunities are provided for material science and related research.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474334, 11634016, and 11404381), the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0303600 and 2014CB921001), the Open Research Fund Program of the State Key Laboratory of Low- Dimensional Quantum Physics, and the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB07030100).

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  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics & Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Fang Yang, Yan Liang, Li-Xia Liu, Qing Zhu, Wei-Hua Wang, Xue-Tao Zhu & Jian-Dong Guo

  2. School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Li-Xia Liu, Qing Zhu, Xue-Tao Zhu & Jian-Dong Guo

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jian-Dong Guo

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  1. Fang Yang
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Yang, F., Liang, Y., Liu, LX. et al. Controlled growth of complex polar oxide films with atomically precise molecular beam epitaxy. Front. Phys. 13, 136802 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-018-0769-z

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