TY - JOUR

T1 - Gate-tunable electron interaction in high-κ dielectric films

AU - Kondovych, Svitlana

AU - Luk'Yanchuk, Igor

AU - Baturina, Tatyana I.

AU - Vinokur, Valerii M.

PY - 2017/2/20

Y1 - 2017/2/20

N2 - The two-dimensional (2D) logarithmic character of Coulomb interaction between charges and the resulting logarithmic confinement is a remarkable inherent property of high dielectric constant (high-κ) thin films with far reaching implications. Most and foremost, this is the charge Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition with the notable manifestation, low-temperature superinsulating topological phase. Here we show that the range of the confinement can be tuned by the external gate electrode and unravel a variety of electrostatic interactions in high-k films. We find that by reducing the distance from the gate to the film, we decrease the spatial range of the 2D long-range logarithmic interaction, changing it to predominantly dipolar or even to exponential one at lateral distances exceeding the dimension of the film-gate separation. Our findings offer a unique laboratory for the in-depth study of topological phase transitions and related phenomena that range from criticality of quantum metal- and superconductor-insulator transitions to the effects of charge-trapping and Coulomb scalability in memory nanodevices.

AB - The two-dimensional (2D) logarithmic character of Coulomb interaction between charges and the resulting logarithmic confinement is a remarkable inherent property of high dielectric constant (high-κ) thin films with far reaching implications. Most and foremost, this is the charge Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition with the notable manifestation, low-temperature superinsulating topological phase. Here we show that the range of the confinement can be tuned by the external gate electrode and unravel a variety of electrostatic interactions in high-k films. We find that by reducing the distance from the gate to the film, we decrease the spatial range of the 2D long-range logarithmic interaction, changing it to predominantly dipolar or even to exponential one at lateral distances exceeding the dimension of the film-gate separation. Our findings offer a unique laboratory for the in-depth study of topological phase transitions and related phenomena that range from criticality of quantum metal- and superconductor-insulator transitions to the effects of charge-trapping and Coulomb scalability in memory nanodevices.

KW - METAL-INSULATOR-TRANSITION

KW - SUPERINSULATOR

KW - TIN FILMS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85013392606&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/srep42770

DO - 10.1038/srep42770

M3 - Article

C2 - 28218245

AN - SCOPUS:85013392606

VL - 7

SP - 42770

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

M1 - 42770

ER -