Thin film synthesis of metastable and artificially structured oxides

In the past five years thin film techniques such as pulsed laser deposition and molecular beam epitaxy have been effectively utilized for the growth of metastable and artificially structured oxides. Most of the work is related to cuprates, and a number of novel cuprate materials, including some exhibiting superconductivity, have been synthesized as epitaxial films. They are stabilized by growth on a lattice-matched substrate, with control of the stacking sequence of the various layers at nearly the atomic level in the structured films. Artificially layered ferroelectric and magnetic oxides exhibiting enhanced properties have also been fabricated. © 1997 Current Chemistry Ltd.