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Ultrathin films of barium oxide were grown on Ag(001) and Ag(111) using the evaporation of Ba metal in an O2 atmosphere by molecular beam epitaxy. Ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy reveals that films consisting of predominantly BaO or BaO2 result in Ag(001) work function reductions of 1.74 eV and 0.64 eV, respectively. On the Ag(001) surface, Ba oxide growth is initiated by two-dimensional nucleation of epitaxial BaO, followed by a transition to three-dimensional dual-phase nucleation of epitaxial BaO and BaO2. Three-dimensional islands of primarily BaO2(111) nucleate epitaxially on the Ag(111) substrate leaving large patches of Ag uncovered. We find no indication of chemical reaction or charge transfer between the films and the Ag substrates. These data suggest that the origin of the observed work function reduction is largely due to a combination of BaO surface relaxation and an electrostatic compressive effect.

Epitaxial rutile-structured single-crystal Mn x Ti 1 − x O 2 − δ films were synthesized on rutile- (110) and -(001) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The films were characterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (ACTEM). Under the present conditions, 400 °C and P O 2 = 20 mTorr, single crystal epitaxial thin films were grown for x = 0.13, where x is the nominal average mole fraction of Mn. In fact, arbitrarily thick films could be grown with near invariant Mn/Ti concentration profiles from the substrate/film interface to the film surface. In contrast, at x = 0.25, Mn became enriched towards the surface and a secondary nano-scale phase formed which appeared to maintain the basic rutile structure but with enhanced z-contrast in the tunnels, or interstitial sites. Ab initio thermodynamic calculations provided quantitative estimates for the destabilizing effect of expanding the β-MnO 2 lattice parameters to those of TiO 2 -rutile, the stabilizing effect of diluting Mn with increasing Ti concentration, and competing reaction pathways for surface oxide formation.

We show that the HF acid etch commonly used to prepare SrTiO3(001) for heteroepitaxial growth of complex oxides results in a non-negligible level of F doping within the terminal surface layer of TiO2. Using a combination of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanned angle x-ray photoelectron diffraction, we determine that on average ~ 13% of the O anions in the surface layer are replaced by F, but that F does not occupy O sites in deeper layers. Despite this perturbation to the surface, the Fermi level remains unpinned, and the surface-state density, which determines the amount of band bending, is driven by factors other than F doping. The presence of F at the STO surface is expected to result in lower electron mobilities at complex oxide heterojunctions involving STO substrates because of impurity scattering. Unintentional F doping can be substantially reduced by replacing the HF-etch step with a boil in deionized water, which in conjunction with an oxygen tube furnace anneal, leaves the surface flat and TiO2 terminated.

We have explored the systematics of TiO2 polymorph nucleation during film growth by molecular beam epitaxy on perovskite substrates. The accidental lattice match between anatase (0 0 1) and LaAlO3(0 0 1) or SrTiO3(0 0 1) typically results in anatase nucleation at the interface. However, the growth conditions dictate whether or not rutile also nucleates, and the associated morphological and structural properties of the composite film. Four symmetry equivalent epitaxial orientations of rutile on anatase are observed when rutile nucleates as discrete particles on LaAlO3(0 0 1). Such films constitute model systems for studying the anatase/rutile interface, which is of considerable current interest in photochemistry.

We reexamine a well-established method for determining valence band maxima (VBM) in semiconductors based on fitting photoemission valence band spectra to theoretical densities of states. In contrast to the situation for covalent semiconductors, application of this technique to SrTiO3 produces poor fits when the density of states is computed within the local density or generalized gradient approximation. The resulting VBM is too high by several tenths of an eV. However, an excellent fit, and a more physically reasonable VBM, is obtained when the density of states is computed within a recently-developed self-consistent GW approximation. Extrapolating the X-ray excited leading edge to the energy axis, and finding the energy at which the UV-excited leading edge intensity goes to zero, also yield physically reasonable VBM values that are in good mutual agreement, and in good agreement with the VBM obtained by fitting to GW theory. These numbers are useful for accurate band offset determination.