“Conductive” yttria-stabilized zirconia as an epitaxial template for oxide heterostructures

We report an in situ thermochemical treatment that significantly increases the macroscopic electrical conductivity of insulating yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) (001) single-crystalline substrates. We demonstrate the high-quality surface crystalline structure of the resulting “conductive” cYSZ (001) by low- and high-energy electron diffraction. Soft- and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal a sizable reduction of Zr cations to a metallic state and their homogeneous distribution within the cYSZ. We discuss the correlation between the microscopic chemical processes leading to the increased macroscopic metallicity. Finally, the heteroepitaxial growth of a functional magnetic oxide model system, ultrathin EuO on cYSZ (001), was demonstrated. cYSZ (001) thereby enables both high quality oxide heteroepitaxy and the advanced sample characterization by high electron-fluence characterization techniques.