Probing Emergent Surface and Interfacial Properties in Complex Oxides via in situ X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Abstract

Emergent behavior at complex oxide interfaces has driven much of the research in the oxide thin film community for the past twenty years. Interfaces have been engineered for potential applications in spintronics, topological quantum computing, and high-speed electronics in cases where the bulk materials would not exhibit the desired properties. Advances in thin film growth have made the synthesis of these interfaces possible, while surface characterization tools such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been critical to understanding surface and interfacial phenomena in these materials. In this review we discuss the leading research in the oxide field over the past 5-10 years with a focus on connecting the key results to the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies that enabled them. We describe how in situ integration of synthesis and spectroscopy can be used to improve the film growth process and to perform immediate experiments on specifically tailored interfacial heterostructures. These studies can include determination of interfacial intermixing, valence band alignment, and interfacial charge transfer. We also show how advances in synchrotron-based spectroscopy techniques have answered questions that cannot be addressed in a lab-based system. By further tying together synthesis and spectroscopy through in situ techniques, we conclude by discussing future opportunities in the field through the careful design of thin film heterostructures that are optimized for X-ray studies.

arXiv comment31 pages, 12 figures

References in corpus (49)

• Novel Jeff = 1/2 Mott State Induced by Relativistic Spin-Orbit Coupling in Sr2IrO4
• High Mobility in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Heterostructures: Origin, Dimensionality and Perspectives
• Highly efficient and tuneable spin-to-charge conversion through Rashba coupling at oxide interfaces
• Electronic structure of the parent compound of superconducting infinite-layer nickelates
• A high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas at the heteroepitaxial spinel/perovskite complex oxide interface of γ-Al2O3/SrTiO3
• Metal-insulator transition in ultrathin LaNiO3 films
• Photoferroelectric oxides
• Profiling the interface electron gas of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• Instability, Intermixing and Electronic Structure at the Epitaxial LaAlO3/SrTiO3(001) Heterojunction
• Electrostatic carrier doping of GdTiO3/SrTiO3 interfaces
• Interplay of Spin-Orbit Interactions, Dimensionality, and Octahedral Rotations in Semimetallic SrIrO${}_3$
• LaAlO3 stoichiometry found key to electron liquid formation at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces
• Subband structure of a two-dimensional electron gas formed at the polar surface of the strong spin-orbit perovskite KTaO${}_3$
• Aspects of the Synthesis of Thin Film Superconducting Infinite-Layer Nickelates
• Nonlinear Hall effect and multichannel conduction in LaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices
• Emerging magnetism and anomalous Hall effect in iridate-manganite heterostructures
• Spin-orbit semimetal SrIrO${}_3$ in the two-dimensional limit
• Charge transfer and interfacial magnetism in (LaNiO3)n/(LaMnO3)2 superlattices
• Atomically precise interfaces from non-stoichiometric deposition
• Band alignment at epitaxial BaSnO3/SrTiO3(001) and BaSnO3/LaAlO3(001) heterojunctions
• Dimensionality-driven metal-insulator-transition in spin-orbit coupled SrIrO${}_3$
• Engineered Mott ground state in LaTiO${}_{3+\delta }$/LaNiO${}_3$ heterostructure
• Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films
• Growth control of oxygen stoichiometry in homoepitaxial SrTiO3 films by pulsed laser epitaxy in high vacuum
• Adsorption of water at the SrO surface of ruthenates
• Transistor operation and mobility enhancement in top-gated LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 heterostructures
• Charge transfer in iridate-manganite superlattices
• Electronic reconstruction at the isopolar LaTiO3/LaFeO3 interface: An x-ray photoemission and density functional theory study
• Unintentional F doping of the surface of SrTiO3(001) etched in HF acid -- structure and electronic properties
• Tailoring Materials for Mottronics: Excess Oxygen Doping of a Prototypical Mott Insulator
• Energetic, spatial and momentum character of a buried interface: the two-dimensional electron gas between two metal oxides
• Surface States of Perovskite Iridates AIrO${}_3$; Signatures of Topological Crystalline Metal with Nontrivial ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ Index
• Band offsets and density of Ti3+ states probed by X-ray photoemission on LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces and their LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 bulk precursors
• Interface structure, band alignment and built-in potentials at LaFeO${}_3$/$\text{n}$-SrTiO${}_3$ heterojunctions
• Momentum-resolved electronic structure at a buried interface from soft x-ray standing-wave angle-resolved photoemission
• Tunable and Enhanced Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling in Iridate-Manganite Heterostructures
• Dynamic Interface Rearrangement in LaFeO${}_3$ / $n$-SrTiO${}_3$ Heterojunctions
• Topological Properties and Functionalities in Oxide Thin Films and Interfaces
• Interface-induced Polarization in SrTiO${}_3$-LaCrO${}_3$ Superlattices
• Interface properties and built-in potential profile of a LaCrO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ superlattice determined by standing-wave excited photoemission spectroscopy
• Band alignment of epitaxial SrTiO3 thin films with (LaAlO3)0.3-(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 (001)
• Separating Electrons and Donors in BaSnO3 via Band Engineering
• Manipulating the Polar mismatch at LaNiO3/SrTiO3 (111) Interface
• Full control of Co valence in isopolar LaCoO3 / LaTiO3 perovskite heterostructures via interfacial engineering
• Alleviating polarity-conflict at the heterointerfaces of KTaO${}_3$/GdScO${}_3$ polar complex-oxides
• Ferromagnetism and spin-dependent transport at a complex oxide interface
• Correlating surface stoichiometry and termination in SrTiO${}_3$ films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
• Development of a 3-D energy-momentum analyzer for meV-scale energy electrons
• Unexpected Termination Switching and Polarity Compensation in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysis with Epitaxially Grown Spinel MnFe${}_2$O${}_4$ and Fe${}_3$O${}_4$
• Thickness Dependent OER Electrocatalysis of Epitaxial LaFeO${}_3$ Thin Films
• Operando characterization of interfacial charge transfer processes
• Advances in Complex Oxide Quantum Materials Through New Approaches to Molecular Beam Epitaxy
• Correlating surface stoichiometry and termination in SrTiO${}_3$ films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
• Deep learning with reflection high-energy electron diffraction images to predict cation ratio in Sr${}_{2x}$Ti${}_{2(1-x)}$O${}_3$ thin films
• Band-Engineered LaFeO${}_3$-LaNiO${}_3$ Thin Film Interfaces for Electrocatalysis of Water
• Strain-dependent Insulating State and Kondo Effect in Epitaxial SrIrO${}_3$ Films
• Emergent phenomena at oxide interfaces studied with standing-wave photoelectron spectroscopy
• Jahn-Teller-driven Phase Segregation in Mn${}_x$Co${}_{3-x}$O${}_4$ Spinel Thin Films
• Strain Effects in SrHfO${}_3$ Films Grown by Hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy
• Probing the polar-nonpolar oxide interfaces using resonant x-ray standing wave techniques