Quantum wells created from nanostructured transition metal oxides offer unique possibilities for creating and manipulating quantum states of matter, including novel superconductors, high Curie temperature magnets, controllable metal-insulator transitions, and new topological states. This article explores what is known and conjectured about confined electronic states in oxide quantum wells. Theoretical challenges are reviewed, along with issues arising in the creation of oxide quantum wells. Examples from the current experimental state of the art are summarized, open questions are discussed, and prospects for the future are outlined. The key roles of epitaxial strain and proximity effects are emphasized.

Barium strontium titanate solidly mounted resonators (SMR) were fabricated with three different acoustic Bragg reflectors (ABR) on a sapphire substrate. The three devices had ABR structures consisting of W/SiO2/W/SiO2, Mo/SiO2/Mo/SiO2, and Pt/SiO2/Pt/SiO2 respectively. The s-parameters of all three devices were measured. The results showed that the quality factor increased as a function of the material in the ABR structure. The quality factor for the devices with tungsten, molybdenum and platinum in the ABR structures are 101, 88, and 31, respectively. This investigation showed how the material in the ABR structure can contribute to the acoustic loss in the device.

We report on the growth of high-permittivity (k) TiO2 thin films on In0.53Ga0.47As channels by chemical beam deposition with titanium isopropoxide as the source. The films grew in a reaction-limited regime with smooth surfaces. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy showed an atomically abrupt interface with the In0.53Ga0.47As channel that indicated that this interface is thermally stable. Measurements of the leakage currents using metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors with Pt top electrodes revealed asymmetric characteristics with respect to the bias polarity, suggesting an unfavorable band alignment for CMOS applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the TiO2/In0.53Ga0.47As band offsets. A valence band offset of 2.5 ± 0.1 eV was measured.

The microstructure and orientation relationships of epitaxial (111)-oriented SrTiO3 thin films grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on epitaxial (111)-oriented Pt/Ti electrodes on sapphire were investigated using x-ray diffraction, conventional and scanning transmission electron microscopy. We show that the epitaxial growth of (111)-oriented SrTiO3 films was promoted by thin Ti adhesion layers underneath the Pt electrode. The SrTiO3 films nucleated with two twin-related orientation variants, rotated by 180° about the 〈111〉 surface normal. The twin boundaries were oriented approximately normal to the film plane, but no strong preference for a specific boundary plane was observed. Growth mechanisms and the relationships to the dielectric properties are discussed.

Transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction were used to study SrTiO3 films grown on platinized (0001) Al2O3 substrates. The Pt films were epitaxial with an orientation relationship described by (111)Pt‖(0001)Al2O3 and [110]Pt‖[10¯10]Al2O3. SrTiO3 films with two different Sr to Ti ratios, 1.02 and 1.4, were deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. In the film with a large amount of Sr excess, the grain sizes were smaller and a high density of planar defects was observed. The films were predominantly (111) textured, but a weaker (110) texture component was also found, independent of stoichiometry. While the (111) texture could be explained with the excellent lattice match with (111) Pt, the (110) textured grains had a large mismatch with the Pt electrode. We propose that the presence of the (110) oriented grains is due to nucleation at Pt surface defects. Planar defects in the films with a large amount of Sr excess served to accommodate the nonstoichiometry. Comparison with homoepitaxial SrTiO3 films showed that the density of planar defects in the SrTiO3 films on (111)Pt/Al2O3 is insufficient to accommodate all the excess Sr. The influence of the film microstructure on the dielectric properties is also discussed.

In universal relaxation, a material's complex dielectric susceptibility follows a fractional power law f1-n where 0 < n < 1 over multiple decades of frequency. In a variety of materials, including Ba0.5Sr0.5Ti03, dielectric relaxation has been observed to follow this universal relaxation model with values of n close to 1. In this work we have shown that the universal relaxation model can be used to calculate dielectric loss even when n is very close to 1. Our calculated Q-factors agree with measured values at 1 MHz; this agreement suggests that this technique may be used for higher frequencies where network analyzer measurements and electrode parasitics complicate Q-factor determination.

The reaction between shape-memory TiNi thin films and silicon has been characterized by conventional, analytical, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. A reaction layer is formed during the 525 °C post-deposition crystallization anneal of the sputter-deposited TiNi, and consists of several phases: Ti2Ni, a nickel silicide, and a ternary titanium nickel silicide. The mechanism for the interlayer formation is discussed.