Epitaxial lift-off of La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membranes enabled by BaO sacrificial layers and restoration of the Curie temperature

Takahito Takeda; Daigo Matsubara; Yuki K. Wakabayashi; Kohei Yamagami; Munetoshi Seki; Hitoshi Tabata; Le Duc Anh; Masaki Kobayashi; Masaaki Tanaka; Shinobu Ohya

arXiv · 2602.07831

Epitaxial lift-off of La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membranes enabled by BaO sacrificial layers and restoration of the Curie temperature

Takahito Takeda·Daigo Matsubara·Yuki K. Wakabayashi·Kohei Yamagami·Munetoshi Seki·Hitoshi Tabata·Le Duc Anh·Masaki Kobayashi·Masaaki Tanaka·Shinobu Ohya

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Abstract

Ultrathin complex-oxide membranes provide a powerful platform for strain engineering, interfacial control, and heterogeneous integration; however, their formation remains constrained by the availability and performance of suitable water-soluble sacrificial layers. This letter demonstrates that barium oxide (BaO) serves as a highly efficient and rapidly dissolving water-soluble sacrificial layer, enabling the epitaxial lift-off and transfer of ultrathin La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ (LSMO) membranes onto SiO$_x$/Si substrates. LSMO membranes with a thickness of approximately 8 nm are released using a BaO sacrificial layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy, while high crystallinity is preserved and Ba interdiffusion is limited to a narrow interfacial region of approximately 0.5 nm. Post-transfer oxygen annealing at 600 ${}^\circ$C increases the Curie temperature ($T_C$) from 342 K to 346 K by eliminating Mn$^{2+}$ states associated with oxygen vacancies generated through oxygen extraction into the BaO layer. These results show that BaO provides a fast, scalable, and compositionally simple route for complex-oxide membrane release, while brief oxygen annealing is essential to restore the optimal Mn valence state and achieve the intrinsic high $T_C$.

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Takahito Takeda, Daigo Matsubara, Yuki K. Wakabayashi, Kohei Yamagami, Munetoshi Seki, Hitoshi Tabata, Le Duc Anh, Masaki Kobayashi, Masaaki Tanaka, Shinobu Ohya. 2026-02-08. Epitaxial lift-off of La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membranes enabled by BaO sacrificial layers and restoration of the Curie temperature. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.07831

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