Influence of thickness scaling on the electronic structure and optical properties of oxygen deficient BaBiO3-δ thin films grown on SrTiO3-buffered Si(001) substrate

Abstract

BaBiO3 has attracted a lot of research attention since it was discovered as the parent compound for the high-Tc superconducting BaPbxBi1–xO3 and Ba1–xKxBiO3. In its pure state, BaBiO3 is an insulator due to the presence of a breathing distortion of the BiO6 octahedra. The distortion is attributed to the valency of Bi in the compound being charge-ordered in the form of Bi3+ and Bi5+ along the lattice, resulting in alternating expanded or contracted BiO6 octahedra. The interaction between the electronic properties and the thickness of the thin film is crucial to study. We conducted a thorough study to investigate the effect of the thickness reduction of BaBiO3-δ grown on SrTiO3-buffered Si substrates on the optical properties as well as the Bi electronic structure of the thin films. We conclude that modifications in the valency of Bi in the ultra-thin film regime result in an optically conducting layer.