Scalable Programming of LaAIO3/SrTiOz Interfaces via Ultra-Low-Voltage Electron-Beam Lithography

Interface engineering at complex oxide heterostructures enables a wide range of electronic functionalities critical for next-generation devices. Here it is demonstrated that ultra-low-voltage electron beam lithography (ULV-EBL) creates high-quality mesoscale structures at LaAlO/SrTiO, (LAO/STO) interfaces with greater efficiency than conventional methods. Nanowires, tunnel barriers, and electron waveguides are successfully patterned that exhibit distinctive transport characteristics including 1D superconductivity, nonlinear current-voltage behavior, and ballistic electron flow. While conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM) previously enabled similar interface modifications, ULV-EBL provides significantly faster patterning speeds (10 mm s-‘ vs 1 um s-‘), wafer-scale capability (> (10 cm)2 vs < (90 um)2), and maintenance of pattern quality under vacuum conditions. Additionally, an efficient oxygen plasma treatment method is developed for pattern erasure and surface cleaning, which reveals novel surface reaction dynamics at oxide interfaces.
These capabilities establish ULV-EBL as a versatile approach for scalable interface engineering in complex oxide heterostructures, with potential applications in reconfigurable electronics, sensors, and oxide-based devices.