No Arabic abstract
Metal halide perovskites single-crystalline thin films (SCTFs) have recently emerged as promising materials for the next generation of optoelectronic devices due to their superior intrinsic properties. However, it is still challenging to transfer and integrate them with other functional materials for hybrid multilayer devices because of their substrate-dependent growth. Herein, a method that allows the SCTFs to be transferred with high quality onto arbitrary substrates has been reported. By introducing hydrophobic treatment to the growth substrates, the adhesion between SCTFs and growth substrates is reduced. Meanwhile, anti-solvent intercalation technique is used to peel off SCTFs from the growth substrates intactly. Finally, centimeter-scale perovskite SCTF has been successfully transferred to target substrate. This work opens up a new route to transfer large-scale perovskite SCTFs, providing a platform to widen the applications of perovskite SCTFs in large-scale hybrid multilayer optoelectronic devices.
Graphene, a monolayer of carbon atoms packed into a two-dimensional crystal structure, attracted intense attention owing to its unique structure and optical, electronic properties. Recent advances in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have led to the batch production of high quality graphene on metal foils. However, further applications are required in the way these graphenes are transferred from their growth substrates onto the target substrate. Here, we report a sublimable carrier method that allows the graphene to be transferred with high quality onto arbitrary substrates, including semiconductor, metal and organic substrates. The intrinsic problems of the residue and environmentally unfriendly organic solvents have been solved due to the polymer-free process. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy demonstrate the high quality and clean surface of the transferred graphene. This work provides a new way of optimizing graphene transfer and widens the applications of graphene in large-scale 2D electronics.
Samarium has two stable valence states, 2+ and 3+, which coexist in many compounds forming spatially homogeneous intermediate valence states. We study the valence state of samarium when incorporated in a single crystalline EuO thin film which crystallizes in a $fcc$-structure similar to that of the intermediate valence SmO, but with a larger lattice constant. Due to the increased lattice spacing, a stabilization of the larger Sm$^{2+}$ ion is expected. Surprisingly, the samarium incorporated in Sm$_{mathrm{x}}$Eu$_{mathrm{1-x}}$O thin films shows a predominantly trivalent character, as determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and magnetometry measurements. We infer that the O$^{2-}$ ions in the EuO lattice have enough room to move locally, so as to reduce the Sm-O distance and stabilize the Sm$^{3+}$ valence.
Structural study of orbital-ordered manganite thin films has been conducted using synchrotron radiation, and a ground state electronic phase diagram is made. The lattice parameters of four manganite thin films, Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 (NSMO) or Pr0.5Sr0.5MnO3 (PSMO) on (011) surfaces of SrTiO3 (STO) or [(LaAlO3){0.3}(SrAl0.5Ta0.5O3){0.7}] (LSAT), were measured as a function of temperature. The result shows, as expected based on previous knowledge of bulk materials, that the films resistivity is closely related to their structures. Observed superlattice reflections indicate that NSMO thin films have an antiferro-orbital-ordered phase as their low-temperature phase while PSMO film on LSAT has a ferro-orbital-ordered phase, and that on STO has no orbital-ordered phase. A metallic ground state was observed only in films having a narrow region of A-site ion radius, while larger ions favor ferro-orbital-ordered structure and smaller ions stabilize antiferro-orbital-ordered structure. The key to the orbital-ordering transition in (011) film is found to be the in-plane displacement along [0-1 1] direction.
We investigated the structural and magnetic properties of bare SrRuO$_3$ (SRO) ultra-thin films and SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$/SrZrO$_3$ (SRO/SIO/SZO: RIZ) trilayer heterostructures between 10 K and 80 K, by comparing macroscopic data using magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and magneto-transport (anomalous Hall effect: AHE), with nanoscale fingerprints when applying non-contact scanning force microscopy (nc-SFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). SRO and RIZ ultra-thin films were epitaxially grown at 650C onto vicinal SrTiO$_3$ (100) single-crystalline substrates to a nominal thickness of 4 and 4/2/2 unit cells (uc), respectively. Our correlated analysis allows associating topographic sample features of overgrown individual layers to their residual magnetization, as is shown here to be relevant for interpreting the macroscopic AHE data. Although the hump-like features in the AHE suggest a magnetically extured skyrmion phase to exist around 55 K associated to the topological Hall effect (THE), both our MOKE and MFM data cannot support this theory. In contrast, our SFM/MFM local-scale analysis finds the local coercive field to be strongly dependent on the effective layer thickness and stoichiometry in both the SRO and RIZ samples, with huge impact on the local band-structure. In fact, it is these variations that in turn mimic a potential THE through anomalies in the AHE resistivity loops.
The increasing availability of a variety of two-dimensional materials has generated enormous growth in the field of nanoengineering and nanomechanics. Recent developments in thin film synthesis have enabled the fabrication of freestanding functional oxide membranes that can be readily incorporated in nanomechanical devices. While many oxides are extremely brittle in bulk, recent studies have shown that, in thin membrane form, they can be much more robust to fracture as compared to their bulk counterparts. Here, we investigate the ultimate tensile strength of SrTiO$_3$ membranes by probing freestanding SrTiO$_3$ drumheads using an atomic force microscope. We demonstrate that SrTiO$_3$ membranes can withstand an elastic deformation with an average strain of ~6% in the sub-20 nm thickness regime, which is more than an order of magnitude beyond the bulk limit. We also show that these membranes are highly resilient upon a high cycle fatigue test, surviving up to a billion cycles of force modulation at 85% of their fracture strain, demonstrating their high potential for use in nanomechanical applications.