| Summary: | The precise control of interfacial atomic arrangement in ABO3 perovskite
heterostructures is paramount, particularly in cases where the subsequent electronic
properties of the material exhibit geometrical preferences along polar crystallographic
directions that feature inevitably complex surface reconstructions. Here, we present the
B-site interfacial structure in polar (111) and non-polar (001)
SrIrO3/SrTiO3 interfaces. The heterostructures were examined using
scanning transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron-based coherent Bragg rod
analysis. Our results reveal the preference of B-site intermixing across the (111)
interface due to the polarity-compensated SrTiO3 substrate surface prior to
growth. By comparison, the intermixing at the non-polar (001) interface is negligible.
This finding suggests that the intermixing may be necessary to mitigate epitaxy along
heavily reconstructed and non-stoichiometric (111) perovskite surfaces. Furthermore, this
preferential B-site configuration could allow the geometric design of the interfacial
perovskite structure and chemistry to selectively engineer the correlated electronic
states of the B-site d-orbital.
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