Young's modulus of freestanding oxide thin films

ORAL

Abstract

Recent developments in thin film growth provide a powerful route to free-standing single-crystal films of perovskite oxides by water etching of a sacrificial underlayer (Di Lu et al., Nature Materials 15, 1255 [2016]). We have used Atomic Force Microscopy to systematically probe the elastic properties of suspended SrTiO3 films, in the hitherto unexplored sub-100 nm thickness regime. We evaluate and discuss the variation of Young's modulus with film thickness, and compare our freestanding films to bulk SrTiO3. Our study of the mechanical properties of thin SrTiO3 could provide the basis for precise strain control and manipulation of complex oxides at the nanoscale, thus coupling to spin-charge-orbital degrees of freedom, as well as ferroic order.

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Presenters

  • Varun Harbola

    Physics, Stanford University

Authors

  • Varun Harbola

    Physics, Stanford University

  • Samuel Crossley

    Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford University

  • Seung Sae Hong

    Department of Applied Physics, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Applied Physics, Stanford University, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford Univeristy

  • Yorick Birkhölzer

    Inorganic materials science , University of Twente

  • Di Lu

    Physics, Stanford University

  • Yasuyuki Hikita

    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford institute for materials energy sciences, SLAC National accelerator Laboratory

  • Harold Hwang

    Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Department of Applied Physics, Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator, Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford Univ, Stanford University, Stanford Univeristy