Metallic behavior at YBaCuO7/ZAs interfaces (Z=Ga, Al)

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic properties of YBa2Cu3O7 interfaces with GaAs and AlAs semiconductors, revealing metallic behavior at the interface that could have technological implications.

Contribution

The paper provides a detailed first-principles analysis of YBa2Cu3O7/semiconductor interfaces, highlighting metallic behavior at the atomic layer level.

Findings

Metallic behavior observed at the first two atomic layers of the semiconductor side.

Convergence of density of states to bulk values occurs at the fifth atomic layer.

Ideal non-reconstructed interfaces show this metallic behavior.

Abstract

We present the electronic band structure of the interfaces $YBa_2Cu_3O_7/GaAs$ (direct gap) and $YBa_2Cu_3O_7/AlAs$ (indirect gap) in different configurations calculated using the Density Functional Theory as in the Wien2k code within the local density approximation. We have projected the density of states at the atomic layers forming the interface. We concentrated in the semiconductor side. The two first atomic layers in the semiconductor side of the interface present a clear metallic behavior. We found for both semiconductors considered that it converges towards the bulk atomic-layer projected density of states at the fifth atomic layer from the interface. We considered an ideal non-reconstructed interface in the (001) direction in this work. This behavior is interesting and could be used in several technological applications.