Nanoscale control of the metal-insulator transition in free-standing LaAlO<sub>3</sub>/SrTiO<sub>3</sub> membranes

ORAL

Abstract

By combining 2D materials such as graphene into layered van der Waals heterostructures, new types of designer materials with unique and emergent properties have been realized [1]. We describe a method for achieving free-standing single-crystal LaAlO3/SrTiO3 membranes by etching away a sacrificial SrRuO3 layer underneath SrTiO3. LaAlO3/SrTiO3 membranes are transferred to a sapphire substrate, and we use conductive AFM lithography [2] to achieve nanoscale control the insulator to metal transition at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. Nanoscale conductive channels created at room temperature remain conductive at two Kelvin. These results demonstrate the capacity to create LaAlO3/SrTiO3 membranes that can be integrated with other materials and reversibly patterned at nanoscale dimensions.

[1] A. K. Geim & I. V. Grigorieva, Nature 499, 419 (2013).

[2] C. Cen, et al., Nature Materials 7, 298 (2008).

*JL acknowledges a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, funded by ONR (N00014-15-1-2847). C-BE acknowledges NSF DMREF (DMR-1629270), AFOSR (FA9550-15-1-0334), and AOARD (FA2386-15-1-4046)

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Presenters

  • Muqing Yu

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Univ of Pittsburgh

Authors

  • Muqing Yu

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Univ of Pittsburgh

  • Kitae Eom

    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Dengyu Yang

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Univ of Pittsburgh

  • Jung-Woo Lee

    • Univ of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • University of Wisconsin–Madison
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison

  • Chang-Beom Eom

    • Univ of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • University of Wisconsin–Madison
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Materials Science & Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • University of Wisconsin - Madison
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison

  • Patrick Irvin

    • Univ of Pittsburgh
    • Physics & Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

  • Jeremy Levy

    • Univ of Pittsburgh
    • Physics & Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
    • Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh