Transition metal oxide thin films for nanoelectronic applications

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Metal oxide thin films based on transition metals are widely employed in electronic and optoelectronic devices due to their n- and p-type semiconducting properties and ease of fabrication using the well-established complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, as device miniaturisation has reached its practical limits, new device architectures are intensely sought after to create the next generation of high-performance electronic devices. For instance, the memristor approach allows functions of processing and memory to be merged allowing also for smaller interconnection in circuit design and higher device density. Different metal oxide films will be explored for memristive applications, such as n-type ZnO, p-type CuxO or SnOx. They will be deposited both via sputtering as well as solution processing methods to explore the effect of deposition parameters on the material and thin film properties (e.g. stoichiometry, crystallinity, surface smoothness) and understand how these can be optimised to deliver high performance memristive devices with tunable low-power characteristics. To this end, the standard vertical MIM n- and p-type metal oxide-based devices will be compared with coplanar nanogap separated structures and will be incorporated in 1T1R architectures towards all-oxide CMOS logic. The memristive devices will be then exploited in gas sensing and biosensing applications, as the metal oxide surface can be functionalised with different organic molecules.