Related papers: An atomically thin oxide layer on the elemental su…
We present a study on the crystallization process of undoped and Ta doped TiO2 amorphous thin films. In particular, the effect of ultra-fast annealing treatments in environments characterized by different oxygen concentrations is…
It was recently discovered that a conductive, metallic state is formed on the surface of some insulating oxides. Firstly observed on SrTiO$_3$(001), it was then found in other compounds as diverse as anatase TiO$_2$, KTaO$_3$, BaTiO$_3$,…
TiO2 is a technologically important material. In particular, its anatase polymorph plays a major role in photocatalysis, which can also accommodate charged and neutral vacancies. There is, however, scant theoretical work on the vacancy…
Using ab initio thermodynamics we compile a phase diagram for the surface of Fe3O4(001) as a function of temperature and oxygen pressures. A hitherto ignored polar termination with octahedral iron and oxygen forming a wave-like structure…
Many nanoelectronic devices rely on thin dielectric barriers through which electrons tunnel. For instance, aluminium oxide barriers are used as Josephson junctions in superconducting electronics. The reproducibility and drift of circuit…
We present new atomistic models of amorphous silicon (a-Si) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) surfaces. The a-Si model included 4096 atoms and was obtained using local orbital density functional theory. By analyzing a slab model…
We report on the transient-enhanced shape transformation of nano-structured Si(001) surfaces upon in vacuo annealing at relatively low temperatures of 1175K - 1225K for a few minutes. We find dramatic surface mass transport concomitant with…
Surface atomic-layer (SAL) superconductors consisting of epitaxially grown metal adatoms on a clean semiconductor surface have been recently established. Compared to conventional metal thin films, they have two important features: i)…
We revisited ab initio evaluations of the energy barriers along the possible diffusion paths of the defects in rutile TiO$_2$. By using a method carefully considering the cancellation of the self-interaction, Ti interstitials hopping along…
The availability of low-index rutile TiO2 single crystal substrates with atomically flat surfaces is essential for enabling epitaxial growth of rutile transition metal oxide films. The high surface energy of the rutile (001) surface often…
Colour printing based on metallic or dielectric nanostructures has revolutionized colour science due to its unprecedented subwavelength resolution. Evidently, the evolution towards the active control of such structural colours with smart…
Strontium titanate, SrTiO3, a widely used substrate material for electronic oxide thin film devices, has provided many interesting features. In a combination with a similar oxide material, LaAlO3, it has recently received great interest. It…
Superconducting thin films of niobium have been extensively employed in transmon qubit architectures. Although these architectures have demonstrated remarkable improvements in recent years, further improvements in performance through…
Topological superconductors (TSCs), with the capability to host Majorana bound states that can lead to non-Abelian statistics and application in quantum computation, have been one of the most intensively studied topics in condensed matter…
This study reports on the optical, structural, and dielectric properties of aluminum tantalum oxide (Al$_x$Ta$_y$O$_z$) thin films deposited at low temperature on silicon and steel substrates by pulsed direct current reactive magnetron…
An undoped AlGaN/GaN nanowire demonstrated p-type conductivity based solely on the formation of hole carriers in response to the negative polarization field at the (000-1) AlGaN/GaN facet. A transistor based on this nanowire displayed a…
The effects of isolated residual-gas adsorbates on the local electronic structure of the Dy(0001) surface were spatially mapped by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at 12 K. Less than 15 A away from an adsorbate, a strong…
Surface oxides contribute to losses in superconducting transmon devices resulting in degraded performance. We explore the use of the damascene process to replace the sidewall native oxide of a device with a metal/substrate interface. We…
Freestanding oxide films offer significant potential for integrating exotic quantum functionalities with semiconductor technologies. However, their performance is critically limited by surface roughness and interfacial imperfection caused…
Concurrent structural and electronic transformations in VO2 thin films are of twofold importance: enabling fine-tuning of the emergent electrical properties in functional devices, yet creating an intricate interfacial domain structure of…