Polar discontinuities and interfacial electronic properties of Bi$_2$O$_2$Se on SrTiO$_3$

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to explore how polar discontinuities and contact configurations at the BOS/STO interface influence electronic properties, revealing potential for novel interfacial phenomena and applications.

Contribution

It provides a detailed first-principles analysis of the BOS/STO interface, highlighting how contact type affects charge transfer and electronic structure, which was previously poorly understood.

Findings

[Bi-TiO2] contact induces n-type metallic state with charge transfer.

[Se-SrO] contact maintains p-type structure with weaker hybridization.

Interface properties depend strongly on contact configuration and termination.

Abstract

The layered oxychalcogenide semiconductor Bi$_2$O$_2$Se (BOS) hosts a multitude of unusual properties including high electron mobility. Owing to similar crystal symmetry and lattice constants, the perovskite oxide SrTiO$_3$ (STO) has been demonstrated to be an excellent substrate for wafer-scale growth of atomically thin BOS films. However, the structural and electronic properties of the BOS/STO interface remain poorly understood. Here, through first-principles study, we reveal that polar discontinuities and interfacial contact configurations have a strong impact on the electronic properties of ideal BOS/STO interfaces. The lowest-energy [Bi-TiO$_2$] contact type, which features the contact between a Bi$_2$O$_2$ layer of BOS with the TiO$_2$-terminated surface of STO, incurs significant interfacial charge transfer from BOS to STO, producing a BOS/STO-mixed, $n$-type metallic state at the interface. By contrast, the [Se-SrO] contact type, which is the most stable contact configuration between BOS and SrO-terminated STO substrate, has a much smaller interfacial charge transfer from STO to BOS and exhibits $p$-type electronic structure with much weaker interfacial hybridization between BOS and STO. These results indicate that BOS grown on TiO$_2$-terminated STO substrates could be a fruitful system for exploring emergent phenomena at the interface between an oxychalcogenide and an oxide, whereas BOS grown on SrO-terminated substrates may be more advantageous for preserving the excellent intrinsic transport properties of BOS.