Patterning the two dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface by structured Al capping

Abstract

We demonstrate an approach for patterning a quasi-two dimensional electron gas (q-2DEG) at the interface of LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO) utilizing a structured Al capping layer. The capping of Al enables the formation of q-2DEG at the interface of 1–3 unit cells (uc) of LAO on STO, which was originally insulating before capping. The properties of the q-2DEG induced by the Al capping layer are essentially the same as those of q-2DEG without Al. Therefore, we can pattern q-2DEG by simply patterning the Al film on LAO (2 or 3 uc)/STO using a one-step liftoff process. Our approach circumvents the difficulty of direct patterning of oxide materials and provides a simple and robust patterning method for future device applications based on complex oxide interfaces.