We demonstrate the tunability of oxygen content in pulsed laser deposition (PLD)-grown barium stannate (BaSnO3, BSO) thin films by precisely controlling the background oxygen pressure over a broad range from 0.0004 mbar to 0.13 mbar. The introduction of oxygen vacancies significantly alters the structural properties of BSO films, inducing a monotonic expansion of the out-of-plane lattice parameter and cell volume as the vacancy concentration increases. The progressive formation of oxygen vacancies was spectroscopically tracked using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), providing direct insight into the vacancy evolution. Furthermore, we show that the oxygen stoichiometry in BSO plays a critical role in modulating the sheet resistance of BSO/LaScO3 heterostructures, enabling interface metallic electron conduction. This oxygen content control offers a robust strategy to tailor the electronic properties at the interface, highlighting its potential for oxide electronics and functional interface engineering.
@article{arxiv.2503.11957,
title = {Oxygen vacancy engineering in pulsed laser deposited BaSnO$_3$ thin films on SrTiO$_3$},
author = {Wilson Román Acevedo and Myriam H. Aguirre and Beatriz Noheda and Diego Rubi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.11957},
year = {2025}
}