Epitaxial LaFeO3 (LFO)-based photocells, of different thicknesses (50–200 nm) have been grown on cubic LSAT (001) [(LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2TaAlO6)0.7] single-crystal substrates, using a La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) bottom electrode and different top electrodes [Pt,Ba0.95La0.05SnO3 (BLSO)], to determine their photoresponse. The measured short-circuit photocurrent first increases with LFO thickness and then decreases, and it is larger or smaller, when Pt or BLSO electrodes are used, respectively.
The corresponding open-circuit voltage displays the opposite trend, being smaller or larger for Pt and BLSO, respectively, which is in excellent agreement with the electronic band alignments determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and also consistent with the rectifying character of the dark current-voltage data. It turns out that the films display a complex microstructure containing different variants, strained and relaxed, of the orthorhombic LaFeO3, that evolves with film thickness and entails the presence of strain gradients and, possibly, flexoelectric fields. We discuss these data and propose that the unavoidable grain boundaries between differently textured LaFeO3 crystallites play a significant role on the observed responsivity (2.6 × 10−4 A W−1), found to be larger than in related LFO-based structures.
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Oxides for new-generation electronics
Band Alignment and Photoresponse of La Fe O3-Based Heterojunctions
Yunwei Sheng, Mathieu Mirjolet, Mario Villa, Jaume Gàzquez, José Santiso, Andreas Klein, Jordi Fraxedas, and Josep Fontcuberta
Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 024001 – Published 1 February 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.024001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.024001
