Antiferrodistortive and Ferroeletric Phase Transitions in Freestanding Films of SrTiO₃

Thin films’ properties can be greatly influenced by their supporting growth substrates. Even in the so-called strain-free heterostructure films, it is still unclear whether there will be no interfacial electronic reconstructions induced by the underlying substrates. Here, we report the studies of SrTiO₃ (STO) films in the freestanding form (FS) with a thickness ranging from 20 to 80 nm. These STO films, by default, are in a strain-free state; they exhibit distinct properties not seen in both bulk and strain-free heterostructure forms. Our films show an enhanced antiferrodistortive (AFD) phase transition temperature with a preferential in-plane rotation axis for the TiO₆ octahedra. The anisotropic Ti orbital occupancy around the surface signals the departure of its properties from the bulk. Moreover, we have found that the in-plane ferroelectricity can be strengthened by the reduced dimensionality, establishing that the dimensionality control is an important factor for enhancing STO’s ferroelectric response.