Understanding the nature of electronic effective mass in double-doped SrTiO₃

We present an approach to tune the effective mass in an oxide semiconductor by a double doping mechanism. We demonstrate this in a model oxide system Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$, where we can tune the effective mass ranging from 6--20$\mathrm{m_e}$ as a function of filling or carrier concentration and the scattering mechanism, which are dependent on the chosen lanthanum and oxygen vacancy concentrations. The effective mass values were calculated from the Boltzmann transport equation using the measured transport properties of thin films of Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$. Our method, which shows that the effective mass decreases with carrier concentration, provides a means for understanding the nature of transport processes in oxides, which typically have large effective mass and low electron mobility, contrary to the tradional high mobility semiconductors.