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Interface control by chemical and dimensional matching in an oxide heterostructure

Nature Chemistry volume 8, pages 347–353 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Interfaces between different materials underpin both new scientific phenomena, such as the emergent behaviour at oxide interfaces, and key technologies, such as that of the transistor. Control of the interfaces between materials with the same crystal structures but different chemical compositions is possible in many materials classes, but less progress has been made for oxide materials with different crystal structures. We show that dynamical self-organization during growth can create a coherent interface between the perovskite and fluorite oxide structures, which are based on different structural motifs, if an appropriate choice of cations is made to enable this restructuring. The integration of calculation with experimental observation reveals that the interface differs from both the bulk components and identifies the chemical bonding requirements to connect distinct oxide structures.

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Figure 1: Structural matching of fluorite and perovskite structures for layer-by-layer growth.
Figure 2: Structural and chemical measurements of the cations at the LaAlO3/Ln0.5Zr0.5O1.75 interface.
Figure 3: Establishing the interface structure by identification of the oxide anion sublattice.
Figure 4: Crystal-chemistry description of the restructured interface based on bonding, metric and composition.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Engineering and Physics Research Council under EP/H000925/1. M.J.R. is a Royal Society Research Professor. S.T. gratefully acknowledges the FWO (Fonds Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) for a post-doctoral scholarship and for funding under project number G004413N. The microscope used for this work was partially funded by the Hercules Foundation of the Flemish government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, United Kingdom

    Marita O'Sullivan, Matthew S. Dyer, Troy D. Manning, John B. Claridge & Matthew J. Rosseinsky

  2. EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium

    Joke Hadermann, Stuart Turner & Artem M. Abakumov

  3. Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZE, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Alaria

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  1. Marita O'Sullivan
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Contributions

M.J.R. and J.B.C. developed the concept for the study; M.O.S. designed the experiments, along with J.A., and prepared and characterized the thin films; M.S.D. performed the computational analysis, J.H. and A.M.A. performed and analysed the STEM, S.T. performed and analysed the EELS. M.O.S. and M.J.R. wrote the first draft. All the authors discussed the results and further developed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Matthew J. Rosseinsky.

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O'Sullivan, M., Hadermann, J., Dyer, M. et al. Interface control by chemical and dimensional matching in an oxide heterostructure. Nature Chem 8, 347–353 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2441

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