Multifunctional Oxide Heterostructures

This book is devoted to the rapidly developing field of research on oxide thin-films and heterostructures. Recent advances in thin-film deposition and characterization techniques made possible the experimental realization of such heterostructures, where two or more complex oxides are combined with atomic-scale precision. Especially notable advances have been made over the past few years, driven by the discovery of fascinating new physical phenomena in oxide heterostructures. The fundamental science underlying these phenomena is rich and exciting and promises novel functionalities and device concepts. The book consists of a set of chapters on topics that represent some of the key innovations in the field over recent years. It starts from fundamentals that include two chapters discussing physics of strongly correlated electronic materials and magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic materials. Part II of the book is devoted to the growth and characterization of oxide heterostructures and includes four chapters on these subjects comprising key experimental developments in advanced deposition and characterization techniques. Part III of the book addresses functional properties of oxide heterostructures, including two-dimensional electron gases at oxide interfaces, manganite multilayers, and thermoelectric phenomena. Part IV of the book is focused on existing and potential applications of oxide heterostructures, including high-k dielectric materials, ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFET) and ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAM), and new concepts of oxide electronics. Overall, this book covers the core principles of oxide electronic materials, describes experimental approaches to fabricate and characterize oxide thin-films and heterostructures, demonstrates new functional properties of these materials, and provides an overview of novel applications, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the field. © Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Elbio R. A. Dagotto, Chang-Beom Eom, Ramamoorthy Ramesh 2012. All rights reserved.