Nanostructures at Temperatures Between the Freezing Point and Boiling Point of Water*

The discovery of a tunable 2DEG at the interface of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (LAO/STO) has spurred interest in LAO/STO nanoelectronics. The technique of conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM) lithography is capable of creating conductive nanostructures by controlling the charge state of the LAO surface [1]. It is also known that a “water cycle” mediates conductivity at the oxide interface [2] and causes premature self-erasure of nanostructures. Here we describe experiments in which we measure the properties of conductive nanostructures in the temperature range 273 K < T < 400 K and as a function of ambient pressure. Understanding the properties of LAO/STO nanostructures in these conditions is important for applications as well as for subsequent measurements at low temperatures.


[1] C. Cen et al., Science 323, 1026-1030 (2009).
[2] F. Bi et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 173110 (2010).