The potential profile at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) heterointerface in operando conditions

We report measurements of the gate-bias dependent band alignment, especially the confining potential profile, at the conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) heterointerface using soft and hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Depth-profiling analysis reveals that a significant potential drop on the SrTiO3 side of the interface occurs within ~2 nm of the interface under negative gate bias voltage. These results demonstrate gate control of the collapse of permittivity at the interface, and explain the dramatic loss of electron mobility with back-gate depletion.