Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Strontium titanate (STO), with a wide spectrum of emergent properties such as ferroelectricity and superconductivity, has received significant attention in the community of strongly correlated materials. In the strain-free STO film grown on the SrRuO₃ buffer layer, the existing polar nanoregions can facilitate room-temperature ferroelectricity when the STO film thickness approaches 10 nm. Here we show that around this thickness scale, the freestanding STO films without the influence of a substrate show the tetragonal structure at room temperature, contrasting with the cubic structure seen in bulk form. The spectroscopic measurements reveal the modified Ti-O orbital hybridization that causes the Ti ion to deviate from its nominal 4+ valency (3d⁰ configuration) with excess delocalized 3d electrons. Additionally, the Ti ion in TiO₆ octahedron exhibits an off-center displacement. The inherent symmetry lowering in ultrathin freestanding films offers an alternative way to achieve tunable electronic structures that are of paramount importance for future technological applications.