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Experimental realization of atomically flat and AlO2-terminated LaAlO3 (001) substrate surfaces

Jeong Rae Kim, Jiyeon N. Lee, Junsik Mun, Yoonkoo Kim, Yeong Jae Shin, Bongju Kim, Saikat Das, Lingfei Wang, Miyoung Kim, Mikk Lippmaa, Tae Heon Kim, and Tae Won Noh
Phys. Rev. Materials 3, 023801 – Published 8 February 2019
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Abstract

Oxide single-crystal substrates with atomically smooth and chemically uniform surfaces are indispensable for constructing sharp epitaxial heterointerfaces and investigating emergent interfacial physical phenomena. Here, we report a simple method to realize atomically flat and AlO2-terminated LaAlO3 (001) [LAO(001)] substrate surfaces. So far, the LAO(001) substrate has been utilized as a structural template for the epitaxial growth of a variety of oxide films. However, well-established methods for achieving atomically flat, singly terminated LAO(001) surfaces have rarely been reported. This is mainly due to the unstable charged surfaces of LaO+ or AlO2, which hinders simultaneous stabilizations of atomic-scale smoothness and single termination. To overcome this problem, we combined thermal annealing and subsequent deionized water leaching to treat the LAO(001) surface. We used atomic force microscopy to investigate the evolution of the LAO(001) surface during the water leaching and confirmed the atomically flat surface of the 120-min-water-leached sample. We further demonstrated the uniform AlO2 termination of the LAO(001) surface via coaxial impact-collision ion scattering spectroscopy. Using the treated substrates, we are able to grow perovskite oxide films (i.e., SrRuO3) on the LAO(001) substrate with atomically sharp heterointerfaces. Our paper provides an effective means for controlling the surface and interface of transition-metal oxide heterostructures at the atomic scale.

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  • Received 30 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.023801

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Jeong Rae Kim1,2, Jiyeon N. Lee3, Junsik Mun1,4, Yoonkoo Kim1,4, Yeong Jae Shin1,2, Bongju Kim1,2, Saikat Das1,2, Lingfei Wang1,2,*, Miyoung Kim1,4, Mikk Lippmaa3, Tae Heon Kim5,†, and Tae Won Noh1,2

  • 1Center for Correlated Electron Systems, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
  • 3Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8581, Japan
  • 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
  • 5Department of Physics, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Republic of Korea

  • *lingfei.wang@outlook.com
  • thkim79@ulsan.ac.kr

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Issue

Vol. 3, Iss. 2 — February 2019

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