%0 Journal Article
%A Hensling, Felix
%A Keeble, D. J.
%A Zhu, J.
%A Brose, S.
%A Xu, C.
%A Gunkel, F.
%A Danylyuk, S.
%A Nonnenmann, S. S.
%A Egger, W.
%A Dittmann, R.
%T UV radiation enhanced oxygen vacancy formation caused by the PLD plasma plume
%J Scientific reports
%V 8
%N 1
%@ 2045-2322
%C London
%I Nature Publishing Group
%M FZJ-2018-03439
%P 8846
%D 2018
%X Pulsed Laser Deposition is a commonly used non-equilibrium physical deposition technique for the growth of complex oxide thin films. A wide range of parameters is known to influence the properties of the used samples and thin films, especially the oxygen-vacancy concentration. One parameter has up to this point been neglected due to the challenges of separating its influence from the influence of the impinging species during growth: the UV-radiation of the plasma plume. We here present experiments enabled by a specially designed holder to allow a separation of these two influences. The influence of the UV-irradiation during pulsed laser deposition on the formation of oxygen-vacancies is investigated for the perovskite model material SrTiO3. The carrier concentration of UV-irradiated samples is nearly constant with depth and time. By contrast samples not exposed to the radiation of the plume show a depth dependence and a decrease in concentration over time. We reveal an increase in Ti-vacancy–oxygen-vacancy-complexes for UV irradiated samples, consistent with the different carrier concentrations. We find a UV enhanced oxygen-vacancy incorporation rate as responsible mechanism. We provide a complete picture of another influence parameter to be considered during pulsed laser depositions and unravel the mechanism behind persistent-photo-conductivity in SrTiO3.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ pmid:29892095
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000434776600052
%R 10.1038/s41598-018-27207-5
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/848173