Band alignment at epitaxial BaSnO3/SrTiO3(001) and BaSnO3/LaAlO3(001) heterojunctions

We have spectroscopically determined the optical bandgaps and band offsets at epitaxial interfaces of BaSnO3 with SrTiO3(001) and LaAlO3(001). 28 u.c. BaSnO3 epitaxial films exhibit direct and indirect bandgaps of 3.56 +/- 0.05 eV and 2.93 +/- 0.05 eV, respectively. The lack of a significant Burstein-Moss shift corroborates the highly insulating, defect-free nature of the BaSnO3 films. The conduction band minimum is lower in electron energy in 5 u.c. films of BaSnO3 than in SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 by 0.4 +/- 0.2 eV and 3.7 +/- 0.2 eV, respectively. This result bodes well for the realization of oxide-based, high-mobility, two-dimensional electron systems that can operate at ambient temperature, since electrons generated in the SrTiO3 by modulation doping, or at the BaSnO3/LaAlO3 interface by polarization doping, can be transferred to and at least partially confined in the BaSnO3 film. Published by AIP Publishing.