We report that a deionized water etching and thermal annealing technique can be effective for preparing atomically-flat and singly-terminated surfaces of single crystalline SrTiO 3 substrates. After a two-step thermal-annealing and deionized-water etching procedure, topography measured by atomic force microscopy shows the evolution of substrates from a rough to step-terraced surface structure. Lateral force microscopy confirms that the atomically-flat surfaces are singly-terminated. Moreover, this technique can be used to remove excessive strontium oxide or hydroxide composites segregated on the SrTiO 3 surface. This acid-etchant-free technique facilitates the preparation of atomically-aligned SrTiO 3 substrates, which promotes studies on twodimensional physics of complex oxide interfaces.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract