Letter abstract
Nature Materials 7, 621 - 625 (2008)
Published online: 29 June 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmat2223
Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Surface and thin films
Mapping the spatial distribution of charge carriers in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures
M. Basletic1, J.-L. Maurice, C. Carrétéro, G. Herranz1, O. Copie, M. Bibes, É. Jacquet, K. Bouzehouane, S. Fusil & A. Barthélémy
At the interface between complex insulating oxides, novel phases with interesting properties may occur, such as the metallic state reported in the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system 1. Although this state has been predicted 2 and reported3, 4 to be confined at the interface, some studies indicate a much broader spatial extension5, thereby questioning its origin. Here, we provide for the first time a direct determination of the carrier density profile of this system through resistance profile mappings collected in cross-section LaAlO3/SrTiO3 samples with a conducting-tip atomic force microscope (CT-AFM). We find that, depending on specific growth protocols, the spatial extension of the high-mobility electron gas can be varied from hundreds of micrometres into SrTiO3 to a few nanometres next to the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. Our results emphasize the potential of CT-AFM as a novel tool to characterize complex oxide interfaces and provide us with a definitive and conclusive way to reconcile the body of experimental data in this system.
- Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales, Associée à l'Université Paris-Sud, Route départementale 128, 91767 Palaiseau Cedex, France
- Current address: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, HR-10002 Zagreb, Croatia (M.B.); Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra 08193, Catalonia, Spain (G.H.)
Correspondence to: G. Herranz1 e-mail: gherranz@icmab.es
Correspondence to: A. Barthélémy e-mail: agnes.barthelemy@thalesgroup.com
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