UC Santa Barbara

Epitaxial GdTiO3 /SrTiO3 structures with different SrTiO3 layer thicknesses are grown on 001 LaAlO30.3Sr2AlTaO60.7 substrate surfaces by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy. It is shown that the formation of the pyrochlore Gd2Ti2O7 phase can be avoided if GdTiO3 is grown by shuttered growth, supplying alternating monolayer doses of Gd and of the metalorganic precursor that supplies both Ti and O. Phase-pure GdTiO3 films grown by this approach exhibit magnetic ordering with a Curie temperature of 30 K. The electrical transport characteristics can be understood as being dominated by a conductive interface layer within the SrTiO3.