Crystal Interface Engineering in High T_c Oxides

Interfaces between metal oxides have not been studied as extensively as metal or semiconductor interfaces. Even in magnetic metallic systems, new phenomena are still being discovered, such as giant magnetoresistance, which has been attributed to an interface phenomenon. As general interest in metal oxides increases, researchers are studying a large variety of heterostructures consisting of superconducting oxides, conducting oxides, ferroelectric oxides, magnetic oxides, and optical oxides. As the complexity and level of integration increase, scientists need a better understanding of the interfaces in metal oxide systems. For example, interface issues in grain boundaries in high T_c oxides and in Josephson junctions of the superconductor/normal material/superconductor (SNS) type have been identified as important technological barriers. In heterostructures based on ferroelectric materials, fatigue problems are believed to be associated with the interface between the conducting electrodes and the ferroelectric metal oxides, and with grain boundaries in the ferroelectric materials.

In this article we will focus on the interface issues related to YBCO superconductors. We will describe interface phenomena observed in several systems, such as YBCO/metal contacts, YBCO/YBCO grain boundaries, and YBCO/epitaxial metal oxides. From their seemingly universal behavior, we will try to identify the origin of the interface phenomena and will describe some recent efforts to control such phenomena.