Enhancement of superconducting transition temperature in electrochemically etched FeSe/LaAlO$_3$ films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a significant increase in the superconducting transition temperature of electrochemically etched FeSe/LaAlO3 films, reaching 46 K, due to surface electrochemical reactions rather than electrostatic doping.

Contribution

It reveals that electrochemical surface reactions, not electrostatic doping, enhance $T_c$ in etched FeSe films, achieving record-high transition temperatures.

Findings

$T_c^{zero}$ reaches 46 K at low gate voltages.

Enhanced $T_c$ remains after discharge, unlike electrostatic doping.

Surface electrochemical reactions are responsible for $T_c$ increase.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the gate voltage dependence of $T_{\mathrm c}$ in electrochemically etched FeSe films with an electric-double layer transistor structure. The $T_{\mathrm c}^{\mathrm {zero}}$ value of the etched FeSe films with a lower gate voltage ($V_{\mathrm g}$ = 2.5 and 3.3 V) reaches 46 K, which is the highest value among almost all reported values from the resistivity measurements except for the data by Ge et al. This enhanced $T_{\mathrm c}$ remains unchanged even after the discharge process, unlike the results for electrostatic doping without an etching process. Our results suggest that the origin of the increase in $T_{\mathrm c}$ is not electrostatic doping but rather the electrochemical reaction at the surface of an etched films.