Two-dimensional electron gas at the PbTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface: an ab initio study

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: Two-dimensional electron gas at the PbTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface: an ab initio study
المؤلفون: Yin, Binglun, Aguado-Puente, Pablo, Qu, Shaoxing, Artacho, Emilio
المصدر: Phys. Rev. B 92, 115406 (2015)
سنة النشر: 2015
المجموعة: Condensed Matter
مصطلحات موضوعية: Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
الوصف: In the polar catastrophe scenario, polar discontinuity accounts for the driving force of the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the interface between polar and non-polar insulators. In this paper, we substitute the usual, non-ferroelectric, polar material with a ferroelectric thin film and use the ferroelectric polarization as the source for polar discontinuity. We use ab initio simulations to systematically investigate the stability, formation and properties of the two-dimensional free-carrier gases formed in PbTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures under realistic mechanical and electrical boundary conditions. Above a critical thickness, the ferroelectric layers can be stabilized in the out-of-plane monodomain configuration due to the electrostatic screening provided by the free-carriers. Our simulations also predict that the system can be switched between three stable configurations (polarization up, down or zero), allowing the non-volatile manipulation of the free charge density and sign at the interface. Furthermore, the link between ferroelectric polarization and free charge density demonstrated by our analysis constitutes compelling support for the polar catastrophe model that is used to rationalize the formation of 2DEG at oxide interfaces.
Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures
نوع الوثيقة: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115406
URL الوصول: http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04865
رقم الأكسشن: edsarx.1506.04865
قاعدة البيانات: arXiv
الوصف
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115406