Conductivity of the two-dimensional electron gas at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

We propose an analytical theory of metallic conductivity in the two-dimensional (2D) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface. For that we consider the electron-phonon interaction at the interface. The electronic part is taken from our previous work [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 18, 2104 (2016)], considering the conditions for the interfacial charge carrier (electron or hole) to become itinerant. The second ingredient deals with the atomic oscillations localized near the interface and decaying rapidly at its both sides, which can be regarded as 2D acoustic phonons. The dispersion of such phonons depends on the characteristics of phonon spectra of LAO and STO. Calculating the corresponding scattering rate by Fermi's golden rule, we show that the resulting resistivity (i.e., inverse conductivity) has typical metallic character, growing linearly with temperature and tending to zero (without defects forming so-called residual resistivity) at T -> 0. The results of our calculations are in agreement with available experimental data.