SrRuO3 (SRO), one of the representative perovskite materials, has been a popular choice for electrode material of functional oxide films due to the chemical/thermal stability as well as good conductivity. Also, the exotic transport properties of SRO have attracted many interests in basic research, e.g. superconductivity, ferromagnetism, and topological hall effect. Interestingly, when prepared as a thin film, SRO makes the structural phase transition (SPT) from monoclinic phase to tetragonal phase at 200 oC which is significantly lower than the bulk SRO. While a substrate-induced strain is pointed out as the cause of the low temperature SPT of SRO thin film, the exact mechanism of SPT has not been clarified. In this presentation, we investigated the formation of surface oxide during SPT on SRO thin film with ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) and in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD). With analysis of photoemission spectra and XRD analysis, we observed the evidence of oxygen atoms migrating to the surface to form the surface oxides across SPT temperature, revealing the close correlation between oxygen vacancy and SPT of SRO thin films.

Investigation on surface oxide formed on thin film SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (001) during structural phase transition

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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