• Gaétan, Verdierre
• Jannis, Daen
• Koster, Gertjan
• Bibes, Manuel
• Verbeeck, J.
• Gauquelin, Nicolas

Abstract

<jats:p> Among oxides, bismuthates have been gaining much interest due to their unique features. In addition to their superconducting properties, they show potential for applications as topological insulators and as possible spin-to-charge converters. After being first investigated in their bulk form in the 1980s, bismuthates have been successfully grown as thin films. However, most efforts have focused on BaBiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, with SrBiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> receiving only little attention. Here, we report the growth of epitaxial films of SrBiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> on both TiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>-terminated SrTiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> and NdO-terminated NdScO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> substrates by pulsed laser deposition. SrBiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> has a pseudocubic lattice constant of ∼4.25 Å and grows relaxed on NdScO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>. Counter-intuitively, it grows with a slight tensile strain on SrTiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> despite a large lattice mismatch, which should induce compressive strain. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that this occurs as a consequence of structural domain matching, with blocks of 10 SrBiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> unit planes matching blocks of 11 SrTiO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> unit planes. This work provides a framework for the synthesis of high quality perovskite bismuthates films and for the understanding of their interface interactions with homostructural substrates. </jats:p>

Topics

• perovskite
• thin film
• transmission electron microscopy
• pulsed laser deposition