MRI: Acquisition of a High Pressure Oxygen Sputtering System for Research and Education in Oxide Heterostructures

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TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: The University of Minnesota proposes acquisition of a multi-user, high-throughput, oxide thin film deposition system to fuel a large interdisciplinary research effort in the field of oxide heterostructures. This effort spans numerous areas of basic and applied research including magnetism, superconductivity, correlated electrons, mechanical behavior, solid-state chemistry, and magneto-optics. The users of the instrument include four primary principal investigators, a total of seven principal investigators (from four departments), an external national laboratory collaborator, and ?î 15 undergraduates, graduate students, and post-docs. The proposed instrument employs high pressure oxygen sputtering, a recently developed method for fabrication of epitaxial multilayered oxide films with exceptional control over crystalline and interfacial perfection. Following acquisition of the system (the first of its kind in the US) it will be employed in a wide variety of collaborative research including; (i) spin transport and interface magnetism in perovskites, (ii) high-k dielectrics for electrostatically tuned charge doping in organic semiconductors, high temperature superconductors, and perovskite magnets, (iii) fabrication of integrated magneto-optical devices, and (iv) atomic resolution electron microscopy of oxide interfaces. Broader impacts are considerable and include the potential societal benefits associated with advancement in this technologically important area, broad dissemination of important basic research results, enhancement of the inter-disciplinary educational opportunities provided to young researchers, education of a skilled workforce in this technologically important area, and essential improvements in instrumentation infrastructure.NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Oxygen is an element that is very familiar to us in our daily lives. Perhaps less familiar are the chemical compounds formed by reacting simple metallic elements with oxygen to form a class of materials called the solid oxides. In terms of their physical and chemical properties, these oxides are some of the most versatile, useful, and rich materials of current scientific interest. They find application in diverse areas, from simple household items such as ceramics, to high-tech applications like computer processors, hard disk drives, and environmentally friendly fuel cells. The majority of the more demanding applications (in areas such as computation and information storage) require that multiple different oxide materials are layered together to form the nanometer-scale equivalent of a laminate. Such ¡§multilayers¡¨ or ¡§heterostructures¡¨ are also very important in basic science. In this project, scientists at the University of Minnesota will acquire an instrument (the first of its kind in the US) capable of layering together these oxide materials with an unprecedented level of control over their atomic structures. Researchers from the Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Electrical Engineering departments will then use these materials in a wide variety of basic and applied scientific investigations in fields such as magnetics, superconductivity, and semiconductors. The acquisition of this instrument will also provide new training and education opportunities to many students and young scientists, a vital contribution to the education of a skilled workforce in these important and highly competitive areas of technology.