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Misfit strain driven cation inter-diffusion across an epitaxial multiferroic thin film interface

Journal of Applied Physics, ISSN: 1089-7550, Vol: 115, Issue: 5
2014
  • 32
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 41
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    32
    • Citation Indexes
      32
  • Captures
    41

Article Description

Cation intermixing at functional oxide interfaces remains a highly controversial area directly relevant to interface-driven nanoelectronic device properties. Here, we systematically explore the cation intermixing in epitaxial (001) oriented multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BFO) grown on a (001) lanthanum aluminate (LAO) substrate. Aberration corrected dedicated scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy reveal that the interface is not chemically sharp, but with an intermixing of ∼2 nm. The driving force for this process is identified as misfit-driven elastic strain. Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire-based phenomenological theory was combined with the Sheldon and Shenoy formula in order to understand the influence of boundary conditions and depolarizing fields arising from misfit strain between the LAO substrate and BFO film. The theory predicts the presence of a strong potential gradient at the interface, which decays on moving into the bulk of the film. This potential gradient is significant enough to drive the cation migration across the interface, thereby mitigating the misfit strain. Our results offer new insights on how chemical roughening at oxide interfaces can be effective in stabilizing the structural integrity of the interface without the need for misfit dislocations. These findings offer a general formalism for understanding cation intermixing at highly strained oxide interfaces that are used in nanoelectronic devices. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Bibliographic Details

P. S. Sankara Rama Krishnan; Paul Munroe; V. Nagarajan; Anna N. Morozovska; Eugene A. Eliseev; Quentin M. Ramasse; Demie Kepaptsoglou; Wen I. Liang; Ying Hao Chu

AIP Publishing

Physics and Astronomy

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