Dramatic mobility enhancements in doped SrTiO3 thin films by defect management

We report bulk-quality n-type SrTiO3 (n-SrTiO3) thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition, with electron mobility as high as 6600 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at 2 K and carrier density as low as 2.0x10(18) cm(-3) (similar to 0.02 at. %), far exceeding previous pulsed laser deposition films. This result stems from precise strontium and oxygen vacancy defect chemistry management, providing a general approach for defect control in complex oxide heteroepitaxy. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3457994]