Origin of the giant persistent photoconductivity in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures probed by noise spectroscopy

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2022.08.006

J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2023, Vol. 137: 152-158.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2022.08.006

• Research Article • Previous Articles Next Articles

Origin of the giant persistent photoconductivity in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures probed by noise spectroscopy

Kitae Eom^a,1, Jung-Woo Lee^b,1,2, Gyeongmo Yang^c, Youngmin Kim^c, Jaeyoung Jeon^c,d, Jieun Yeon^c, Hyungwoo Lee^c,d,*

^aSchool of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, South Korea;
^bKIURI Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, South Korea;
^cDepartment of Physics, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, South Korea;
^dDepartment of Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, South Korea

Received:2022-06-24 Revised:2022-08-07 Accepted:2022-08-12 Published:2023-02-20 Online:2023-02-15
Contact: *Department of Physics, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, South Korea. E-mail address: hyungwoo@ajou.ac.kr (H. Lee).
About author:¹These authors contributed equally to this work. ²Current address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hongik Uni- versity, Sejong 30016, South Korea.

Abstract

Abstract: LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (LAO/STO) heterostructures have shown a strong persistent photoconductivity (PPC) at room temperature. The abnormally strong PPC has attracted immense research interest due to its possible applications in optically-tunable electronic devices. Despite its promise, the fundamental understanding of the PPC in the LAO/STO heterostructures is still elusive. Herein, we report that the giant PPC originates from the photo-induced valence change in oxygen vacancies near the LAO/STO interface. Our spectral analysis of the photocurrent and the model-fitting study consistently show that the ionized oxygen vacancies near the interface are neutralized during the electron relaxation process. They hinder the complete relaxation of the photoexcited electrons by the deeply-located oxygen vacancies and result in the strong PPC. The change in the ionization state distribution of the oxygen vacancies is probed by the persistent noise behavior at the frequency between 1 kHz and 20 kHz regime. These results provide insight into the role of oxygen vacancies in influencing the internal charge distribution and triggering the PPC phenomena in complex oxide heterostructures.

Key words: Persistent photoconductivity, LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures, Two-dimensional electron gases, Oxygen vacancies, Low-frequency noise, Spectral analyses

Kitae Eom, Jung-Woo Lee, Gyeongmo Yang, Youngmin Kim, Jaeyoung Jeon, Jieun Yeon, Hyungwoo Lee. Origin of the giant persistent photoconductivity in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures probed by noise spectroscopy[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2023, 137: 152-158.

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Origin of the giant persistent photoconductivity in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures probed by noise spectroscopy

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