Control of the surface electronic structure of SrTiO3(001) by modulation of the density of oxygen vacancies.

The influence of electron irradiation and the subsequent oxygen adsorption on the electronic structure of an SrTiO3(001) surface was investigated by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). Electron irradiation induced an in-gap state (IGS) as observed by UPS keeping the surface 1???1, which is considered to originate from oxygen vacancies on the topmost surface due to the electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) of oxygen. Electron irradiation also caused a downward shift of the valence band maximum, indicating downward band bending and the formation of a conductive layer on the surface. Adsorption of oxygen on the electron-irradiated surface, on the other hand, reduced the intensity of the IGS along with yielding upward band bending, which points to disappearance of the conductive layer. The results show that ESD and oxygen adsorption can be used to control the surface electronic structure switching between semiconducting and metallic regimes by changing the density of the oxygen vacancies.