Electron-Beam Writing of Atomic-Scale Reconstructions at Oxide Interfaces
Greta Segantini (Université de Genève)
Chih Ying Hsu (Université de Genève, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
Carl Willem Rischau (Université de Genève)
P.J. Blah (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QN/Caviglia Lab)
M. Matthiesen (TU Delft - QN/Caviglia Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
S. Gariglio (Université de Genève)
J. M. Triscone (Université de Genève)
Duncan T.L. Alexander (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
A Caviglia (Université de Genève)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
The epitaxial growth of complex oxides enables the production of high-quality films, yet substrate choice is restricted to certain symmetry and lattice parameters, thereby limiting the technological applications of epitaxial oxides. In comparison, the development of free-standing oxide membranes gives opportunities to create novel heterostructures by nonepitaxial stacking of membranes, opening new possibilities for materials design. Here, we introduce a method for writing, with atomic precision, ionically bonded crystalline materials across the gap between an oxide membrane and a carrier substrate. The process involves a thermal pretreatment, followed by localized exposure to the raster scan of a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) beam. STEM imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy show that we achieve atomically sharp interface reconstructions between a 30-nm-thick SrTiO3 membrane and a niobium-doped SrTiO3(001)-oriented carrier substrate. These findings indicate new strategies for fabricating synthetic heterostructures with novel structural and electronic properties.
help_outline