Photocarrier Injection and Current-Voltage Characteristics of a La0.8Sr0.2MnO3/SrTiO3:Nb Heterojunction at Low Temperature

An epitaxial heterojunction made of a p-type perovskite manganite La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 film and an n-type strontium titanate SrTiO3:Nb substrate has been fabricated by the pulsed laser deposition technique. The I - V characteristics and photovoltaic properties are measured under a UV light irradiation in a wide temperature range down to 10 K. It is found that the junction works as an efficient UV photodiode with a large external quantum efficiency of 28%. It is also demonstrated that the manganite film can be doped with a certain amount of holes by the photcarrier injection. The maximum surface hole density is estimated to b 3.0 X 10^13 cm^-2.