Control of electronic conduction at an oxide heterointerface using surface polar adsorbates

Abstract

The transfer of electrons between a solid surface and adsorbed atomic or molecular species is fundamental in natural and synthetic processes, being at the heart of most catalytic reactions and many sensors. In special cases, metallic conduction can be induced at the surface of, for example, Si-terminated SiC1, or mixed-terminated ZnO2, in the presence of a hydrogen adlayer. Generally, only the surface atoms are significantly affected by adsorbates. However, remotely changing electronic states far from the adsorbed layer is possible if these states are electrostatically coupled to the surface. Here we show that the surface adsorption of common solvents such as acetone, ethanol, and water can induce a large change (factor of three) in the conductivity at the buried interface between SrTiO3 substrates and LaAlO3 thin films3-8. This phenomenon is observed only for polar solvents. Our result provides experimental evidence that adsorbates at the LaAlO3 surface induce accumulation of electrons at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, suggesting a general polarization-facilitated electronic transfer mechanism, which can be used for sensor applications.

14 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (11)

• Magnetic effects at the interface between nonmagnetic oxides
• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Origin of charge density at LaAlO3-on-SrTiO3 hetero-interfaces; possibility of intrinsic doping
• Avoiding the polarization catastrophe in LaAlO3 overlayers on SrTiO3(001) through a polar distortion
• Built-in and induced polarization across LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ heterojunctions
• "Water-cycle" mechanism for writing and erasing nanostructures at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
• Surface defects and conduction in polar oxide heterostructures
• Origin of Metallic States at Heterointerface between Band Insulators LaAlO${}_3$ and SrTiO${}_3$
• Charge writing at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 surface
• Electronic charges and electric potential at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces studied by core-level photoemission spectroscopy
• Surface Effects on Oxide Heterostructures

Cited by in corpus (37)

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• Nanoscale Phenomena in Oxide Heterostructures
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• Observation of two-dimensional superconductivity at the LaAlO3/KTaO3(110) heterointerface
• Visible light enhanced field effect at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
• Doping-dependent band structure of LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ interfaces by soft x-ray polarization-controlled resonant angle-resolved photoemission
• Electronic charges and electric potential at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces studied by core-level photoemission spectroscopy
• Strong electronic correlation and strain effects at the interfaces between polar and nonpolar complex oxides
• Liquid-Gated High Mobility and Quantum Oscillation of the Two-Dimensional Electron Gas at an Oxide Interface
• Itinerant ferromagnetism of the Pd-terminated polar surface of PdCoO${}_2$
• Dual-Gate Modulation of Carrier Density and Disorder in an Oxide Two-Dimensional Electron System
• Persistent photoconductivity in 2-dimensional electron gases at different oxide interfaces
• Side gate tunable Josephson junctions at the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ interface
• Tuning ferromagnetism at interfaces between insulating perovskite oxides
• Oxygen Electromigration and Energy Band Reconstruction Induced by Electrolyte Field Effect at Oxide Interfaces
• Tuning up or down the critical thickness in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 through in situ deposition of metal overlayers
• Two-dimensional electron gas at the PbTiO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ interface: an ab initio study
• Single Gate P-N Junctions in Graphene-Ferroelectric Devices
• Origin of interfacial conductivity at complex oxide heterointerfaces: possibility of electron transfer from water chemistry at surface oxygen vacancies
• Evolution of the SrTiO${}_3$ surface electronic state as a function of LaAlO${}_3$ overlayer thickness
• Proposal of a one-dimensional electron gas in the steps at the LaAlO${}_3$-SrTiO${}_3$ interface
• Tuning the Electronic Properties of LAO/STO Interfaces by Irradiating LAO Surface with Low-Energy Cluster Ion Beams
• Modulation of electron carrier density at the n-type LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface by water adsorption
• Unexpected Termination Switching and Polarity Compensation in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures
• Laterally-confined two-dimensional electron gases in self-patterned LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces
• La interstitial defect-induced insulator-metal transition in oxide heterostructures LaAlO3/SrTiO3
• Artificial quantum confinement in LAO3/STO heterostructure
• Analysis of electronic and structural properties of surfaces and interfaces based on LaAlO3 and SrTiO3
• Influence of gas ambient on charge writing at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerface
• Hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy of LaVO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$: Band alignment and electronic reconstruction
• In situ investigation of conducting interface formation in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructure
• La displacement driven Double-exchange like mediation in Titanium $d_{xy}$ ferromagnetism at the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$
• Nonlocal Piezoresponse of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Heterostructures
• High-quality Nano-patterning of Oxide Interfaces Using Transferred Gold Mask
• Local inhomogeneities resolved by scanning probe techniques and their impact on local 2DEG formation in oxide heterostructures
• Coupling between tilts and charge carriers at polar-nonpolar perovskite interfaces