Interface science & Thin film technology | Inorganic Materials Science (IMS)

The possibility of studying the epitaxial growth of oxide materials during deposition at relatively high pressures, so-called high pressure RHEED, has significantly increased our ability to construct artificial layers and junctions.
With this technique it is possible to use building blocks of complex materials (complex means materials build of more than 2 elements) to design artificial materials. The idea is that these superstructures with atomically sharp interfaces will show new functionalities and can be applied in diverse device concepts like field effect transistors, (fast) switching devices, multiferroic magnetoelectrics and devices based on gigantic optical non-linearity effects.

In this research area, the following projects are now going on:

Monitoring PLD with Atomic Force MicroscopyCurrently, in-situ growth morphology characterization is performed by diffraction techniques such as Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED). We have now realized a unique system, in which Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) can be performed during Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD).

Interfaces between complex oxide materialsFor electrons confined within very small length scales, quantum effects become very important. Quantum wells, structures in which such confinement exists, have been fabricated in semiconductors, which resulted in both better understanding and new applications. The challenge is that the theoretical length scale in complex oxides is much smaller.

Interface engineering at the La0.67Sr0.33MnO3-SrTiO3 interfaceAfter the remarkable discovery of the difference in conductivity of TiO2 and SrO terminated SrTiO3-LaAlO3 interfaces, much attention has been focused on the polar discontinuity driven electronic reconstruction.