Measurement of electronic structure at nanoscale solid-solid interfacesby surface-sensitive electron spectroscopy

• Published in: Applied physics letters 2008-01, Vol.92 (1), p.012118-012118-3
• Main Authors: Wang, Hui-Qiong, Altman, Eric I., Henrich, Victor E.
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.2831000

We explore the use of electron spectroscopy that samples the near-surface region of a crystal to study the electronic structure at the buried interfaces between two dissimilar transition-metal oxides. The interface is probed by comparing experimental ultraviolet photoelectron spectra to model spectra and by taking sequential differences between the experimental spectra as one oxide is grown on another. Using (100) Fe 3 O 4 - Ni O and Fe 3 O 4 - Co O interfaces grown by molecular beam epitaxy, we show that there is a much higher density of electronic states at the Fe 3 O 4 - Co O interface than at the Fe 3 O 4 - Ni O interface. The origin of this difference is discussed.