Stoichiometry-driven switching between surface reconstructions on SrTiO${}_3$(001)

Abstract

Controlling the surface structure on the atomic scale is a major difficulty for most transition metal oxides; this is especially true for the ternary perovskites. The influence of surface stoichiometry on the atomic structure of the SrTiO${}_3$(001) surface was examined with scanning tunneling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, low-energy He${}^{+}$ ion scattering (LEIS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Vapor deposition of 0.8 monolayer (ML) strontium and 0.3 ML titanium, with subsequent annealing to 850 °C in 4 $\times$ 10${}^{-6}$ mbar O${}_2$, reversibly switches the surface between c(4 $\times$ 2) and (2 $\times$ 2) reconstructions, respectively. The combination of LEIS and XPS shows a different stoichiometry that is confined to the top layer. Geometric models for these reconstructions need to take into account these different surface compositions.

References in corpus (6)

• Unveiling a two-dimensional electron gas with universal subbands at the surface of SrTiO3
• Creation and control of a two-dimensional electron liquid at the bare SrTiO3 surface
• Atomic-scale structure of the SrTiO3(001)-c(6x2) reconstruction: Experiments and first-principles calculations
• Evolution of the Surface Structures on SrTiO${}_3$(110) Tuned by Ti or Sr Concentration
• Reversible Transition Between Thermodynamically Stable Phases with Low Density of Oxygen Vacancies on SrTiO${}_3$(110) Surface
• Selective growth of perovskite oxides on SrTiO3 (001) by control of surface reconstructions

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• Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe/SrTiO${}_3$
• Tuning the Electronic Properties of LAO/STO Interfaces by Irradiating LAO Surface with Low-Energy Cluster Ion Beams
• 2D Surface Phase Diagram of a Multicomponent Perovskite Oxide: La${}_{0.8}$Sr${}_{0.2}$MnO${}_3$(110)
• Evolution of the surface atomic structure of multielement oxide films: curse or blessing?
• Self-regulated growth of candidate topological superconducting parkerite by molecular beam epitaxy