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Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
(Received 11 January 2013; accepted 5 March 2013; published online 15 March 2013)
Nanoscale control of the metal-insulator transition of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface with a
conductive-atomic force microscope (c-AFM) technique has enabled a variety of electrical and
photonic device concepts. While previous devices have demonstrated sub-10 nm critical features,
information processing applications also require high operating speeds. Here we show that a
sketched nanoscale transistor (SketchFET) can operate at frequencies in excess of 2 GHz. The
combination of high speed and high conductance with a small footprint make these devices and
C 2013 American
this platform attractive for sub-10 nm computing and storage architectures. V
Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4795725]
As Si-based information technologies reach fundamental
size limitations, new approaches to nanoelectronic materials
and devices are being considered. Although explicit figures
of merit depend on the specific device and application, it is
generally desirable for devices to be small, fast, highly
conducting, and switchable with large on/off ratios. It is
challenging to find new candidate materials that offer
improvements over silicon in all of these respects.
The emergent properties found at oxide interfaces have
received much attention in recent years.1 In particular, the
interface between insulators LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 was found to
be conducting2 when the LaAlO3 layer thickness3 exceeded a
certain critical value (dc 3 unit cells). At this critical thickness, the interface can be reversibly switched between insulating and conducting states by applying external electric fields.3
Local control of the metal-insulator transition using a conductive atomic force microscope (c-AFM) technique can reversibly create nanoscale structures that are smaller than 2 nm (Refs.
4 and 5). Furthermore, this technique has been used to make a
variety of sketch-based nanoscale devices including isolated
conducting islands with potential memory applications,4 transistors (SketchFETs),5,6 diodes,7 and photodetectors.8
Here we characterize the operation of LaAlO3/SrTiO3based SketchFETs at frequencies that extend into the GHz
range. Three unit cells of LaAlO3 are grown on a TiO2-terminated SrTiO3 substrate using pulsed laser deposition
(PLD)9,10 with in situ high pressure reflection high energy
electron diffraction (RHEED).11 Electrical contact is made
directly to the interface by etching 25 nm-deep trenches into
the SrTiO3 and filling with Au on a Ti adhesion layer.
Nanostructures are created using a positively biased c-AFM
probe, Vtip > 0 V (Figure 1(a), inset); the same structures can
be modified or erased with a negatively biased probe,
Vtip < 0 V. Typical write and erase voltages are 10 and
10 V, respectively. To create a SketchFET device, we first
write three funnel-shaped virtual electrodes that serve as
low-resistance leads to the SketchFET device. Nanowires of
width ww 5 nm are then written from the virtual electrodes
to make the final SketchFET structure consisting of a sourcedrain wire of width ww with gap of width ww and a perpendicular
a)
jlevy@pitt.edu
0003-6951/2013/102(10)/103113/3/$30.00
102, 103113-1
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103113-2
Irvin et al.
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103113-3
Irvin et al.
is possible. These experiments also demonstrate the sensitivity of these devices by virtue of their ability to detect
microwaves on the order of 160 dBm using heterodyne
detection. Compared to prior studies of oxide SketchFETs,5
we have increased the highest operating frequency by two
orders of magnitude. Although many factors may have contributed to this increase, the growth conditions of the samples studied here are such that they minimize the number of
oxygen vacancies,9,10 which may reduce the number of scattering sites and result in an increase of the sample mobility.
Additionally it is unknown what are the sources of the carriers in the ON state. Future studies may also investigate
how the frequency response depends on the DC conductivity
of the nanowires and on the overall device geometry.
One potential application of high-frequency SketchFET
devices is in high-frequency transport characterization of small
molecules or nanostructures. One could place and identify a
nanoscale object on the top LaAlO3 surface, and subsequently
write a SketchFET close by or coinciding with the object.
Electrical coupling could take place through the insulating
LaAlO3 layer. This approach may help to counteract inherent
impedance mismatch, as well as other practical challenges in
making electrical contact to nanoscale objects. In addition to
potential scientific applications such as investigating single
molecules, the demonstrated high current capacity and high
frequency response make these devices potential candidates
for new families of high-speed nanoelectronics.
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from ARO
(W911NF-08-1-0317) (YS, JL), AFOSR (FA9550-12-10268) (JL), NSF Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond
(DMR-1124131) (JL), and an NSF fellowship (TDS).
1
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