Oxide 2D electron gases as a route for high carrier densities on (001) Si

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful growth of oxide-based two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) on silicon, achieving high carrier densities and structural quality, bridging oxide physics with semiconductor technology.

Contribution

It introduces a method to grow high-quality oxide 2DEGs directly on silicon, enabling integration of oxide functionalities with conventional semiconductor devices.

Findings

Achieved high electron density of ~9×10^{13} cm^{-2} at oxide-silicon interfaces.

Confirmed epitaxial growth with abrupt interfaces and high crystallinity.

Transport properties on silicon match those on oxide substrates, validating the approach.

Abstract

Two dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) formed at the interfaces of oxide heterostructures draw considerable interest owing to their unique physics and potential applications. Growing such heterostructures on conventional semiconductors has the potential to integrate their functionality with semiconductor device technology. We demonstrate 2DEGs on a conventional semiconductor by growing $GdTiO_3-SrTiO_3$ on silicon. Structural analysis confirms the epitaxial growth of heterostructures with abrupt interfaces and a high degree of crystallinity. Transport measurements show the conduction to be an interface effect, with $\sim 9\times 10^{13} \; cm^{-2}$ electrons per interface. Good agreement is demonstrated between the electronic behavior of structures grown on Si and on an oxide substrate, validating the robustness of this approach to bridge between lab-scale samples to a scalable, technologically relevant materials system.