Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces

Beena Kalisky; Eric M. Spanton; Hilary Noad; John R. Kirtley; Katja C. Nowack; Christopher Bell; Hiroki K. Sato; Masayuki Hosoda; Yanwu Xie; Yasuyuki Hikita; Carsten Woltmann; Georg Pfanzelt; Rainer Jany; Christoph Richter; Harold Y. Hwang; Jochen Mannhart; Kathryn A. Moler

doi:10.1038/nmat3753

Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerfaces

Beena Kalisky
, Eric M. Spanton
, Hilary Noad
, John R. Kirtley
, Katja C. Nowack
, Christopher Bell
, Hiroki K. Sato
, Masayuki Hosoda
, Yanwu Xie
, Yasuyuki Hikita
, Carsten Woltmann
, Georg Pfanzelt
, Rainer Jany
, Christoph Richter
, Harold Y. Hwang
, Jochen Mannhart
, Kathryn A. Moler

Department of Physics - at Bar-Ilan University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

185 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ability to control materials properties through interface engineering is demonstrated by the appearance of conductivity at the interface of certain insulators, most famously the {001} interface of the band insulators LaAlO 3 and TiO 2 -terminated SrTiO 3 (STO; refs,). Transport and other measurements in this system show a plethora of diverse physical phenomena. To better understand the interface conductivity, we used scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy to image the magnetic field locally generated by current in an interface. At low temperature, we found that the current flowed in conductive narrow paths oriented along the crystallographic axes, embedded in a less conductive background. The configuration of these paths changed on thermal cycling above the STO cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition temperature, implying that the local conductivity is strongly modified by the STO tetragonal domain structure. The interplay between substrate domains and the interface provides an additional mechanism for understanding and controlling the behaviour of heterostructures.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1091-1095
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Materials
Volume	12
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3753
State	Published - Dec 2013

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank G. A. Sawatzky, N. Pavlenko, S. Ilani, Y. Yacoby and A. Vailionis for discussions, Y. Yeshurun and E. Zeldov for use of their optical set-ups, J. Drori, D. Hadad and Y. Shperber for their assistance with the optical measurements and M. E. Huber for assistance in SQUID design and fabrication. S. Ilani and collaborators have performed complementary measurements by local electrostatic imaging. This work was primarily supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. B.K. acknowledges support from FENA and the EC grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799. Y.W.X. acknowledges partial support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FAQSSO-10-1-0524). J.M. acknowledges financial support by the German Science Foundation (TRR80).

Funding

We thank G. A. Sawatzky, N. Pavlenko, S. Ilani, Y. Yacoby and A. Vailionis for discussions, Y. Yeshurun and E. Zeldov for use of their optical set-ups, J. Drori, D. Hadad and Y. Shperber for their assistance with the optical measurements and M. E. Huber for assistance in SQUID design and fabrication. S. Ilani and collaborators have performed complementary measurements by local electrostatic imaging. This work was primarily supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. B.K. acknowledges support from FENA and the EC grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799. Y.W.X. acknowledges partial support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FAQSSO-10-1-0524). J.M. acknowledges financial support by the German Science Foundation (TRR80).

Funders	Funder number
FENA
German Science Foundation	TRR80
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
National Science Foundation	0957616
U.S. Department of Energy
Air Force Office of Scientific Research	FAQSSO-10-1-0524
Seventh Framework Programme	333799
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering	DE-AC02-76SF00515
European Commission

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10.1038/nmat3753

Cite this

Kalisky, B., Spanton, E. M., Noad, H., Kirtley, J. R., Nowack, K. C., Bell, C., Sato, H. K., Hosoda, M., Xie, Y., Hikita, Y., Woltmann, C., Pfanzelt, G., Jany, R., Richter, C., Hwang, H. Y., Mannhart, J., & Moler, K. A. (2013). Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerfaces. Nature Materials, 12(12), 1091-1095. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3753

@article{cb35414764dc48b1992ee17533fbd456,

title = "Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces",

abstract = "The ability to control materials properties through interface engineering is demonstrated by the appearance of conductivity at the interface of certain insulators, most famously the \{001\} interface of the band insulators LaAlO 3 and TiO 2 -terminated SrTiO 3 (STO; refs,). Transport and other measurements in this system show a plethora of diverse physical phenomena. To better understand the interface conductivity, we used scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy to image the magnetic field locally generated by current in an interface. At low temperature, we found that the current flowed in conductive narrow paths oriented along the crystallographic axes, embedded in a less conductive background. The configuration of these paths changed on thermal cycling above the STO cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition temperature, implying that the local conductivity is strongly modified by the STO tetragonal domain structure. The interplay between substrate domains and the interface provides an additional mechanism for understanding and controlling the behaviour of heterostructures.",

author = "Beena Kalisky and Spanton, \{Eric M.\} and Hilary Noad and Kirtley, \{John R.\} and Nowack, \{Katja C.\} and Christopher Bell and Sato, \{Hiroki K.\} and Masayuki Hosoda and Yanwu Xie and Yasuyuki Hikita and Carsten Woltmann and Georg Pfanzelt and Rainer Jany and Christoph Richter and Hwang, \{Harold Y.\} and Jochen Mannhart and Moler, \{Kathryn A.\}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank G. A. Sawatzky, N. Pavlenko, S. Ilani, Y. Yacoby and A. Vailionis for discussions, Y. Yeshurun and E. Zeldov for use of their optical set-ups, J. Drori, D. Hadad and Y. Shperber for their assistance with the optical measurements and M. E. Huber for assistance in SQUID design and fabrication. S. Ilani and collaborators have performed complementary measurements by local electrostatic imaging. This work was primarily supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. B.K. acknowledges support from FENA and the EC grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799. Y.W.X. acknowledges partial support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FAQSSO-10-1-0524). J.M. acknowledges financial support by the German Science Foundation (TRR80).",

year = "2013",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/nmat3753",

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volume = "12",

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Kalisky, B, Spanton, EM, Noad, H, Kirtley, JR, Nowack, KC, Bell, C, Sato, HK, Hosoda, M, Xie, Y, Hikita, Y, Woltmann, C, Pfanzelt, G, Jany, R, Richter, C, Hwang, HY, Mannhart, J & Moler, KA 2013, 'Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerfaces', Nature Materials, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 1091-1095. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3753

TY - JOUR

T1 - Locally enhanced conductivity due to the tetragonal domain structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces

AU - Kalisky, Beena

AU - Spanton, Eric M.

AU - Noad, Hilary

AU - Kirtley, John R.

AU - Nowack, Katja C.

AU - Bell, Christopher

AU - Sato, Hiroki K.

AU - Hosoda, Masayuki

AU - Xie, Yanwu

AU - Hikita, Yasuyuki

AU - Woltmann, Carsten

AU - Pfanzelt, Georg

AU - Jany, Rainer

AU - Richter, Christoph

AU - Hwang, Harold Y.

AU - Mannhart, Jochen

AU - Moler, Kathryn A.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank G. A. Sawatzky, N. Pavlenko, S. Ilani, Y. Yacoby and A. Vailionis for discussions, Y. Yeshurun and E. Zeldov for use of their optical set-ups, J. Drori, D. Hadad and Y. Shperber for their assistance with the optical measurements and M. E. Huber for assistance in SQUID design and fabrication. S. Ilani and collaborators have performed complementary measurements by local electrostatic imaging. This work was primarily supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. B.K. acknowledges support from FENA and the EC grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799. Y.W.X. acknowledges partial support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FAQSSO-10-1-0524). J.M. acknowledges financial support by the German Science Foundation (TRR80).

PY - 2013/12

Y1 - 2013/12

N2 - The ability to control materials properties through interface engineering is demonstrated by the appearance of conductivity at the interface of certain insulators, most famously the {001} interface of the band insulators LaAlO 3 and TiO 2 -terminated SrTiO 3 (STO; refs,). Transport and other measurements in this system show a plethora of diverse physical phenomena. To better understand the interface conductivity, we used scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy to image the magnetic field locally generated by current in an interface. At low temperature, we found that the current flowed in conductive narrow paths oriented along the crystallographic axes, embedded in a less conductive background. The configuration of these paths changed on thermal cycling above the STO cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition temperature, implying that the local conductivity is strongly modified by the STO tetragonal domain structure. The interplay between substrate domains and the interface provides an additional mechanism for understanding and controlling the behaviour of heterostructures.

AB - The ability to control materials properties through interface engineering is demonstrated by the appearance of conductivity at the interface of certain insulators, most famously the {001} interface of the band insulators LaAlO 3 and TiO 2 -terminated SrTiO 3 (STO; refs,). Transport and other measurements in this system show a plethora of diverse physical phenomena. To better understand the interface conductivity, we used scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy to image the magnetic field locally generated by current in an interface. At low temperature, we found that the current flowed in conductive narrow paths oriented along the crystallographic axes, embedded in a less conductive background. The configuration of these paths changed on thermal cycling above the STO cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition temperature, implying that the local conductivity is strongly modified by the STO tetragonal domain structure. The interplay between substrate domains and the interface provides an additional mechanism for understanding and controlling the behaviour of heterostructures.

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SN - 1476-1122

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