Self-Assembly of SrTiO3(001) Chemical-Terminations: A Route for Oxide-Nanostructure Fabrication by Selective Growth

• Published in: Chemistry of materials Vol. 21; no. 12; pp. 2494 - 2498
• Main Authors: Bachelet, R, Sánchez, F, Santiso, J, Munuera, C, Ocal, C, Fontcuberta, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 23-06-2009
• Subjects: Coatings, Thin films, and Monolayers; Patterning of Materials (Micro- and Nanoscale); Self-Assembly and Self-Assembled Materials
• ISSN: 0897-4756; 1520-5002
• DOI: 10.1021/cm900540z

We report a method to fabricate functional oxide nanostructures ordered over the centimeter scale. Self-assembly of SrTiO3(001) chemical terminations through appropriate thermal processing leads to large-area chemical nanopattering of the surface. Such nanopatterned surfaces, stable at relatively high temperature, can be used as template to grow functional ordered nanostructures, exploiting the termination-dependent nucleation. As an example of this potential, we have fabricated ordered arrays of conducting epitaxial SrRuO3 nanostripes separated by insulating trenches. Conductivity maps by atomic force microscopy confirm the coexistence of sharp conducting/insulating regions in low-dimensional structures.