Photon Effects in Ultra-Thin Oxide Films: Synthesis and Functional Properties

Abstract

We present a brief summary of our recent results on synthesis and mechanistic studies on effects of photon irradiation on structure and functional properties of ultra-thin oxide films, with representative examples from fluorite, rutile structured oxides and amorphous alumina. It is shown that ultra-violet irradiation is a unique approach to tailor oxygen concentration, film microstructure in thin film oxides as well as functional properties in a range of temperatures. The technique is versatile; it can be used both during synthesis as well as a post-processing approach.