Photon-assisted oxidation and oxide thin film synthesis: A review

The article reviews an oxide materials synthesis approach utilizing photons. Photon-assisted oxide processing is an interesting and unique approach to synthesize ultra-thin oxides at relatively low temperatures. Photon-assisted oxidation can be implemented both during oxide synthesis as well as a post-deposition annealing step. The mechanisms governing photon-assisted oxygen incorporation into growing oxide films, namely, electric field and chemical effects are discussed. Experimental observations on representative oxide structures in the fluorite, rutile and perovskite family are highlighted. It is shown that the technique enables near-room temperature modification of structure and chemistry of oxide surfaces, interfaces with atomic-level control. Oxygen non-stoichiometry can be controllably tuned using this approach in a self-limiting manner. Potential relevance of the processing approach in the context of applications in emerging electronics and energy technologies are pointed out.