Cation Transport and Surface Reconstruction in Lanthanum Doped Strontium Titanate at High Temperatures

ABSTRACTTracer diffusion experiments were carried out in synthetic air at 1573 K in SrTiO3(100) and (110) single crystals, which were either undoped or doped with up to 1 at.% La, respectively. Tracer sources of 139La and 142Nd were applied by ion implantation. The resulting depth profiles were measured by SIMS. The reconstruction of the surface was monitored ex-situ using microscopic and spectroscopic methods including SEM, EPMA, and AFM. The measured tracer diffusivities show no dependency on orientation. The tracer diffusion takes place via cation vacancies. Under oxidizing conditions the dopant is compensated by Sr vacancies. Hence the diffusion is increasing strongly with La concentration. The observed time dependency of the diffusivities may be related to a space charge layer postulated by the current defect chemistry model for donor doped SrTiO3. At high dopant concentrations annealing leads to segregation of bulk La to the surface. La is not significantly incorporated into the secondary crystallites at the surface which consist almost entirely of Sr and O.