First Integrated Circuits Built from Functional Oxides
The rich array of conventional and exotic electronic properties that can be generated by heterostructures of complex oxides is of great potential value for device applications. Integrated circuits (ICs) built from functional oxides are needed to fully exploit the functionality of oxides. However, it has not yet been possible to fabricate from these materials transistors that switch other transistors, which is a prerequisite for integrating functional oxides into ICs. In the manuscript we report on monolithically integrated logic circuits and chips with 700.000 transistors that utilize the conducting two-dimensional electron liquid generated by nature at the interface between two insulating oxides. Providing the capability to actively process the signals of functional oxide devices such as sensors directly on oxide chips, these results illustrate the practicability and the potential of oxide electronics. This research was done in collaboration with the team of the Nanostructuring Lab and with scientists from the Universities of Augsburg and Cornell.
For more information see:
Adv. Mater. Interfaces 1, 1300031 (2014)
Photograph of a LaAlO3–SrTiO3 chip carrying arrays with more than 700.000 FETs with channel lengths as small as ~ 350 nm. The colors are interference colors arising from the transistor patterns.
Fig. SNAP:
Optical microscopy image (interference contrast) of a monolithically integrated all-oxide NMOS chip, showing sections of five ring-oscillators. The field effect transistors of these integrated circuits are based on the conducting, two-dimensional electron liquid formed at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces.
The long side of the image equals ~2.5 mm.