Spatially Selective and Reversible Doping Control in Cuprate Films

TL;DR

This paper introduces a reversible, spatially-controlled doping technique for cuprate films, enabling the creation of complex junctions and structures to study their transport properties and fundamental physics.

Contribution

A novel doping method that allows reversible, spatially-selective modification of cuprate films, facilitating advanced device fabrication and fundamental studies.

Findings

Successfully created S-AFI-S and OS-US-OS structures

Enabled reliable transport measurements of antiferromagnetic insulators

Applicable to various mixed-valence transition metal oxides

Abstract

We describe a reversible, spatially-controlled doping method for cuprate films. The technique has been used to create superconductor-antiferromagnetic insulator-superconductor (S-AFI-S) junctions and optimally doped superconductor-underdoped superconductor-optimally doped superconductor (OS-US-OS) cuprate structures. We demonstrate how the S-AFI-S structure can be employed to reliably measure the transport properties of the antiferromagnetic insulator region at cryogenic temperatures using the superconductors as seamless electrical leads. We also discuss applied and fundamental issues which may be addressed with the structures created with this doping method. Although it is implemented on a cuprate film (YBa2Cu3O7-delta) in this work, the method can also be applied to any mixed-valence transition metal oxide whose physical properties are determined by oxygen content.