Controlling interfacial states in amorphous/crystalline LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures by electric fields

The tunable metal-insulator transition in crystalline LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures constitutes a central element in the range of remarkable interface properties that has made this oxide system subject to extensive research. Recently, metallic interfaces have also been realized when depositing amorphous LaAlO3 films on SrTiO3. Here, we present a non-volatile and reversible tuning of the interface conductivity by more than 3 orders of magnitude at room temperature by applying an electric field to such amorphous/crystalline heterostructures with amorphous LaAlO3 film thicknesses of 2 nm. We show that the tunability is strongly temperature dependent, and demonstrate a simple protocol for enhancing the tunability. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.