Impedance-Based Characterization of 2-Dimenisonal Conduction Transports in the LaAlO₃/Sr_xCa_1-xTiO₃/SrTiO₃ systems

The 2-dimensiona electron gas (2DEG) layers have opened tremendous interests in the heterooxide interfaces formed between two insulating materials, especially between LaAlO3 and $SrTiO_3$. The 2DEG layers exhibit extremely high mobility and carrier concentrations along with metallic transport phenomena unlike the constituent oxide materials, i.e., $LaAlO_3$ and $SrTiO_3$. The current work inserted artificially the interfacial layer, $Sr_xCa_{1-x}TiO_3$ between $LaAlO_3$ and $SrTiO_3$, with the aim to controlling the 2-dimensional transports. The insertion of the additional materials affect significantly their corresponding electrical transports. Such features have been probed using DC and AC-based characterizations. In particular, impedance spectroscopy was employed as an AC-based characterization tool. Frequency-dependent impedance spectroscopy have been widely applied to a number of electroceramic materials, such as varistors, MLCCs, solid electrolytes, etc. Impedance spectroscopy provides powerful information on the materials system: i) the simultaneous measurement of conductivity and dielectric constants, ii) systematic identification of electrical origins among bulk-, grain boundary-, and electrode-based responses, and iii) the numerical estimation on the uniformity of the electrical origins. Impedance spectroscopy was applied to the $LaAlO_3/Sr_xCa_{1-x}TiO_3/SrTiO_3$ system, in order to understand the 2-dimensional transports in terms of the interfacial design concepts. The 2-dimensional conduction behavior system is analyzed with special emphasis on the underlying mechanisms. Such approach is discussed towards rational optimization of the 2-dimensional nanoelectronic devices.